OUR RECYCLING ETHOS

If performed properly, a house clearance can be a great opportunity to donate old and unwanted items to a local charity. Which is great way to help others and makes parting with the possessions of a loved one, a little bit easier.

We are passionate about recycling and get great satisfaction in re-purposing the stuff we clear. This is good for the environment and our customers. As our recycling ethos means we spend less on commercial tipping fees, which in turn makes our services cheaper and greener for you.

Much of the furniture that’s produced today, is poorly made and not built to last.

In the UK we currently throw away Ten million items of furniture every year, and many pieces could recycled and re-used by someone else, so it’s important we recycle where we can.

Where possible we will always look to donate all suitable items to a charity. Items need to be in a good resalable condition, and where applicable have the right safety tags.

THINGS WE CAN DONATE TO CHARITY

• FURNITURE: Sofas, tables, chest of drawers
• CLOTHES: All clean clothing except underwear.
• TEXTILES: bedding, curtains, table cloths etc
• ELECTRICAL ITEMS: TV’s (flat screen only) Stereos, Appliances
• CD’s VINYL & BOOKS: 
• BRIC A BRAC: Plates, Vases, Jewellery

Where possible we bulk for national and international charities.

• Duvets, towels, blankets – Battersea Dogs Home – Old Windsor
• Spectacles – Vison Aid Overseas
• Books –  Local Libraries, Humana, Oxfam
• Tools – Workaid

CHARITIES WE DONATE TO IN BERKSHIRE

Depending on where we are working, we will always look to donate to the following charities. As we have found them to be the best around in terms of recycling and re-use.

• The Thames Valley Hospice in Dedworth
• Age Concern in Wokingham and Maidenhead
• Sue Ryder in Nettlebed

Because we use large luton vans, we work with the larger depots / warehouses, where they sell furniture and sort smaller items for redistribution to the smaller shops. The shops listed above can receive large amounts of furniture as well as redistribute smaller items and to their smaller high street shops . 

PLEASE NOTE: We have a built of a good relationship with our chosen charities. Donating items which are:

• Broken
• Chipped
• Damaged
• Dirty
• Excessively Large and Heavy
• Don’t have correct fire tags

Will mean the charity will need to pay to dispose of the items at a later date, and could jeopardise our future recycling opportunities with that charity.

WHERE DO YOU TAKE THE RUBBISH AND JUNK?

After trying the items at charity, whatever isn’t accepted, we take to the recycling centre/ waste transfer station (Wikipedia)

We have found this process the best way of filtering and optimising the recycling process.

We use only licensed recycling centres / waste transfer stations in Berkshire and Surrey. The recycle rate at these centres ranges from 84% to 99.8%

Millions of pounds has been spent on these recycling centres, to enable them to efficiently process all of the waste that is deposited there. They have greatly reduced what goes into landfill.

Most un- recyclable items as of October 2021:

• Roofing Felt
• Tyres
• Fridges and Freezers Pentane Products
• Plaster Board
• Mattresses

The rubbish we dispose off on your behalf at the waste transfer station, is carefully sorted by machine then later by hand and filtered accordingly e.g plastics, metal, paper, wood.

Many of the recycling centres we work with are shipping Waste Energy to countries such as Norway and Germany, where they are burning it to generate power.