Reuse schemes
A lot of things we throw away haven’t always reached the end of their useful life. It is still common to put good usable items in the refuse bin, or to use bulky waste collections to get rid of bigger items, rather than donating them. Something that you don’t want anymore can still be used by someone else.
Local charities
If you have any unwanted items, large or small, which are in a good or easily repairable condition, these local charities will accept them:
They will collect your unwanted items from your home for free or you can take them to their shops. They will sell the items to raise funds or use them directly in their charitable activities.
Find a charity
Visit the Re-use Tool website and put in your postcode for contact details of local charities.
The Re-use Tool aims to make it easier for people across many parts of Scotland to donate quality, unwanted goods (like furniture, working electrical items, and clothing) for reuse by others.
Reuse containers at recycling centres
Pre-loved items can be rehomed by a local charity through reuse containers at some of our household recycling centres.
Items donated through the containers are safety and function checked, then upcycled or processed by a local charity for resale. This creates more opportunities for people to access affordable and high quality products with far less carbon impact than buying new. The charities that will service and benefit from the containers are:
It is estimated that the reuse containers will save around 293 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) per year. That is the equivalent of taking 156 cars off the road for 12 months, or growing around 14,000 trees for a year.
What is accepted
View details of specific recycling centres to find out what is accepted and where.
Bicycles
We also accept pre-loved bicycles and donations of good quality, good condition, and branded bicycles are always welcome. View details of specific recycling centres to find out where they are accepted.
The bikes are collected by CycleHub.org network partners including Stella's Voice and The Bikery in Huntly. They are then recycled and refurbished to provide low cost and free access to cycling.
Mattresses
We accept pre-loved mattresses that have:
- A blue fire label with the code BS7177 present
- No rips or tears
- No heavy staining
- A bag protecting them (you can get one for free from the recycling centres accepting mattresses or Waste office)
View details of specific recycling centres to find out where they are accepted.
The mattresses are quality checked and then delivered to Stella's Voice to be professionally cleaned and disinfected. Stella's Voice will either sell the mattresses through its reuse shop or use them directly in their humanitarian efforts.