Used furniture collected free or to buy from shop

[jeral Profile]

I happened upon a http://www.bhf.org.uk/ shop today which will collect for free unwanted resaleable goods (not any old rubbish and there's a list of no-nos). The items displayed in the shop were clean and desirable I thought for anyone just setting up house or restyling rooms on a budget. bhf is the British Heart Foundation by the way. There used to be a couple of charities who collected to pass on to those less well off, e.g. Salvation Army, though it's whether they are in your area really.

Also, our local library, now sold off or whatever to independent peeps will now accept things like unwanted computers, screens, tvs and miscellaneous electronic bits either for moving on or recycling. Not sure if this is a nationwide thing though.

Also today, I noticed that Curry's have a used battery drop-off box; I've always felt guilty about putting them in the rubbish since we're told not to. I guess other electrical outlets probably have such collection boxes?

Edit PS: I should thank cherrytree for inspiring me to write this post and I'm sorry I can't help on French furniture outlets.

[cherrytree Profile]

All shops that sell electrical goods have to have a recycling point for batteries in England at least. (Don't know about Scotland etc.) Even little Aspatria's shops have a box for them. My big gripe is the disposal of the new light bulbs. My physicist husband is very concerned about them going into the dustbin. Apparently they contain mercury. I wrote to all the major retail chains and asked why they didn't have a similar facility as France where there is a box for them in the major stores. i got hardly any replies.

[Suelle Profile Website]

All shops that sell electrical goods have to have a recycling point for batteries in England at least. (Don't know about Scotland etc.) Even little Aspatria's shops have a box for them. My big gripe is the disposal of the new light bulbs. My physicist husband is very concerned about them going into the dustbin. Apparently they contain mercury. I wrote to all the major retail chains and asked why they didn't have a similar facility as France where there is a box for them in the major stores. i got hardly any replies.

Our local recycling centre has a bin for expired light bulbs - they take both flourescent strips and the newer long-life bulbs.

Nearly every large supermarket will have a battery disposal box somewhere - as Cherrytree says, it's the law now. The problem is that they are not always prominently displayed!

We have at least three local charities that collect and resell good furniture (and some not so good!). One has a contract with Argos, to take the ends of lines and anything they can't sell, so there are occasionally brand new things for sale at a good price.

[cherrytree Profile]

Where you live is a little more enlightened than our area Sue. In fact I called into the council offices in Cambridge City centre a little while ago and picked up their leaflet about lightbulb recycling. I showed it to the authorities here and am still awaiting a result.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Morning recyclers.

As Cherrytree says almost all French supermarkets have recycling bins for batteries and low energy/flourescent bulbs. They are usually to be found at the entrance. Our Leclerc also has bins for printer cartridges and mobile phones.

The main recycling depot in town takes just about anything from used cooking and motor oil to garden rubbish and electricals. It is extremely well run, open 5 days a week and the amount of money generated is impressive.

The village has built a new recycling depot on the "main" road into town. It takes clothes and household linens as well the usuall bottles, plastic etc and has a big area for large cartons that should be squashed. Not long after it opened people started to abuse it and left sofas, garden rubbish etc. The mayor - not a lady to cross - immediately had CCTV cameras installed which promtly caught three offenders none of whom was from the village, one was a tourist. They were all prosecuted and this was much publicised. It hasn't happened recently .

Back in Newcastle the council ran a free service to collect unwanted furniture and household goods which were renovated if necessary and then distributed to needy or rehoused families. I don't know if it still exsists.

[jeral Profile]

Used furniture will be collected by our council at a cost, only from street so won't take from anywhere within the house unless a big extra charge is paid; I'm not sure if items are reused. Flytipping has increased since the cost to businesses using rubbish depots increased enormously a few years back when it became clear the country was running out of landfill space.

Our borough now has an advanced recycling plant which means we can put all items into the same bin, whereas some still have to separate it out. There are statistics showing that a huge amount of so-called recycle items still finish up in landfill because a whole refuse lorry can be contaminated from even one batch which contains incorrect items, which includes batteries and electronics.

Just musing, but battery usage must be phenomenal in these days of wireless and cordless gadgets. I'm surprised the powers that be don't promote rechargeable batteries more, though it probably wouldn't go well with people like Duracell if their turnover dropped and even made people redundant, so who'd be a politician eh?

[Joanbunting Profile]

Hi Jeral

We use rechargeable batteries for everything we can and have spare sets so we aren't caught out. we also use transformers or whatever they are called for things like our radio speakers.

I am astonished and not very pleased at the number of batteries our GCs get through with all their games and gadgets. I keep trying to persuade the family to buy a recharger and appropriate batteries but to no avail - especially those in the US.

[jeral Profile]

Yes, it was toys and games that made me think Yo! too. I've found that some rechargeables are able to be recharged more times than others but haven't pinned it down to brand or cost comparison yet. No good if you can't get them though...

Some things have to have transformers to get the voltage down, but beware as they eat up electricity in standby unless switched off at the plug.

[Uschi Profile]

Anyone selling batteries in Germany is obliged to take used batteries back.

[Meena Profile]

Another good way to get rid of unwanted items (be it furniture, gardening stuff, anything really) is Freecycle or Freegle. You can pick up some good stuff on there too (everything is free).

I have got rid of fluffy dice, used candles, toiletrees that were given as presents that i didnt want (!), old crockery, old chocs that were past their best before date (i dont like choc too much) on there.

[jeral Profile]

I'm wary of some sites like that as some make a charge for placing the advertisement post and tend to cover "the country" rather than a localised area. There are, here, a couple of local forums which offer a similar service which I use occasionally for buying from or offering, but of course they don't offer a collection service for unwanted goods. I've noticed that where I am places like supermarkets don't seem to have "postcard boards" any more which is a pity. Perhaps I should become an activist and ask that they bring those back

[Amazing Profile]

jeral Freecycle don't charge anything. If you have an item to give away you can't charge either.


I have obtained a few bits and pieces from people. At the moment I am hunting down the bolts (put in a safe place) for my old metal coal bunker for someone to use.

A friend of mine managed to get enough wood flooring to cover her hallway. Saved her a fortune.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Anyone selling batteries in Germany is obliged to take used batteries back.

And in UK - it is EU wide I think. It is illegal to put them in waste destined for landfill


I've used Freecycle, and been surpised how enthusiatic people are about stuff I thought might be a bit elderly though I get fed up with people who get very picky or don't answer the second email or don't read the first - I nearly shouted at the coupel who ignored a warning (in the original posting) that the table in question was very heavy and they should bring some muscle to carry it down the stairs. Sometimes it gives you a good feeling - I gave an unwanted feather mattress topper to an aging lady with dodgy hips, and she was so pleased (especially when she realised it had removable covers, so really was clean)

Our local "re-use and recycle centre" has an area where you can leave usable furniture for charities to collect, and a charity that supports ex-prisoners will collect furniture and household goods to refurbish in their training workshops, and either sell when cleaned up or use to furnish the new homes of the guys.