Anyone in the UK

[stefjc]

has anyone in the UK found anywhere they can buy general bits and pieces?

I have friends in Canada who use a recycling centre regularly and I got a little bit excited.

I keep looking online to see  if I can track down a clothing/stuff recycling centre that is open to the public, but am having no luck.

Am I just not using the right key terms or do they really not exist here?

[Antidigger]

I have no idea what stuff you are looking for, but my first port of call would be a charity shop, they are mostly in the town centres for small towns and district centres in large cities. The local council may have recycling facilities where they sell off somethings for reuse; some do, some don't. There might be a reuse/recycling warehouse if you are in large city, but they are not always open to the public, sometimes they are reserved for organisers of playgroups/nurseries/schools/community groups e.t.c. Car boot sales are a good place to pick up bits and pieces for reuse/recycling. Freecycle operates in the UK too.

You can always ask local businesses, unless they need to account for all their waste (e.g. tyres from a garage) they will often be happy to give it to you: I got the roll from the inside of a carpet for the asking 2 weeks ago.

Charity shops tend to have clothing, soft furnishings, books, cds and some brick-a-brack, although there are some that do furniture as well.
Local councils centres vary widely, but you can usually expect some furniture and some composted green waste, anything else, you'll need to get to know what they generally keep.
Reuse/recycling warehouses generally have kids craft supplies: offcuts of fabric from local manufacturers, waste cardboard, sequin waste e.t.c.
Car boot sales will have things that people hope to make a little money from, sometimes you can get a great bargain, sometimes there's only rubbish that you can't imagine anyone paying for.
Freecycle is so varied that I really can't describe it.

[kawaiihelen]

hey i know of one place in cardiff called recreate http://www.re-create.co.uk/ and there's the scrapstore in bristol too. depends where in the uk you are! Antidigger hit the nail on the head tho - the best places are charity shops and carboot sales to pick up random stuff!

[Selnith]

as the others have said, charity shops and car boot sales, and keep going back, i know the charity shops in my area have a fairly rapid turn over of stock so we tend to go on a weekly charity shop trawl
Freecylce is amazing! my parents have gotten stuff from freecycle and given stuff away on it too
in our town we have a recyling centre/tip, you can't take stuff out of the skips (unfortunately, we've seen some fantastic stuff that others have thrown out but we can't take ) but you can get compost quite cheap and white goods and furniture and stuff that's a little loved but still good
ooooh and skips! keep your eyes open when you're out and about, often people throw out really useful stuff when they're doing diy, so if you see something you like or you think you can use just go and ask (it's good manners if nothing else) if you can take it
we've had some good stuff from skips, and had people ask if they could take from ours when we were having work done

[Antidigger]

Yes, I was thinking of Recreate when I was writing about the warehouses, but I believe there are similar things elsewhere. Hopefully something near where I've moved to in Northants too.

[loukr]

Hey Stefjc where abouts are you? A fellow craftster member pointed me in the direction of Emmaus. It's a charity helping homeless folk get back on their feet by providing work, shelter and a community. I'm fortunate enough to live slap-bang inbetween Brighton and Winchester so I have easy access to two although I've only even been to the Brighton one and it's fab. Basically a huge charity shop warehouse filled with books, clothes, furniture, crafty bits, bric-a-brac. The workers also grow plants to sell and they spruce up some of the furniture too! AND there's a cafe and everything! I'd definitely recommend checking out your local if there's one close enough! http://www.emmaus.org.uk/

As others have mentioned, freecycle is also amazingly great. I've got all sorts of great things on there including vintage cameras, a typewriter, a WEDDING DRESS (don't ask..) a scanner, a polaroid camera with film, tonnes of fabric, furniture to kit out my old flat and my studio and a binbag full of leather offcuts amongst many, many other great things! It's also great and so easy to get rid of your own unwanted things quickly and easily.

Other ideas are Charity shops as mentioned. I've found a couple of charity shops nearby that are so cheap for some really quality things it's ridiculous but it does require some rummaging about as there's a lot of crud to get through before finding the good stuff. I also find with charity shops that the 'richer' the area, the higher the price tags. My neighbouring town's prices are 1/2 that of where I live in the same charity shop so it's definitely worth shopping around.

Hope this helps somewhat!

[stefjc]

Trust me, I do charity shops and car boots and I love them.

Scrap Stores only meant to be used for community enterprises - I have been a member of one for years with my day job! I am often tempted  

Re-create also restricts useage to community groups. As I want to make things for personal use and possible re-sale I cannot legitimately use any of their stuff.


Loukr, I'm in Gloucester and I found a couple of Emmaus places quite close. I shall check them out. Thank you.

Reading that back I sound soooooooooooooo po faced. Sorry, I really did not mean to pour cold water. I must have been having a teacher moment! All holier than thou and smug!