Getting rid of things sustainably is bloody hard work

@cheeseomelette

I have used this organisation a number of times, they take a wide variety of stuff (including toiletries and make up)they give you the option of about six charities to support. The best thing for me is that they collect, they are very reliable.

anglodoorstepcollections.co.uk/about-us/

In Amsterdam atm staying with dd, Tuesday mornings things that you don't want go on the curb and anyone can take it. They put out a chair, some shelves and a bag of glasses. All gone. There's even an insta page showing whats available. Anything left is collected by the council that night.

Yes, expulsion of things is work just like acquiring them.

After a similar exercise I could hardly by a pen for several months as I felt so over provisioned.

Put things into bundles (so they are worth a journey ) and offer on Facebook for free. There's very little that nobody will pick up. And try to acquire less in future if possible.

We have a local Facebook page for just this ?giving away stuff to reduce landfill). I’m constantly amazed at the stuff people will take as long as it’s free. Obviously really good for people in need. Failing that the local scrappy takes anything metal.

For books, there are often mini libraries in old phone boxes, churches, community centres etc where you can drop off. Scouts often ask for items for fundraising activities.

Freecycle is good. Some time wasters but if you have loads of stuff to go post it all at once & say it must go this weekend. I've even got rid of VHS cassettes!

Go to a car boot sale but you have to be prepared to sell stuff for virtually nothing and make sure that you don’t buy more stuff whilst you’re there!

It does cost money to sell a car boot, so be warned.

I imagine someone has already suggested Freecycle or Freegle. I’ve had good experiences with Freegle. It’s amazing what stuff some people want, thank goodness..

I was thinking about this earlier as I have been decluttering. Options to get rid of stuff responsibly seem to vary a lot depending on location.
In case this helps anyone:
clean, old towels are welcomed by our vet (it’s open long hours, handy for drop off) I’m sure other vets would be similar.
we also have a local rspca centre and they welcome clean towels, bedding and things like unopened dog food as does another dog rescue. RSPCA has collection wheelie bins outside.
bravissimo have donation bins in their shops for bras.
in my area we have very few clothes donation bins but lots of book and shoe bins. Shoes I tie together or use elastic bands and also bag them.
food banks accept unopened toiletries and cosmetics
check if you have a ‘baby bank’ locally for baby items.
we have a school uniform donation place plus a lot of schools (junior or secondary) will accept uniform items just phone first if you want to check. Plus basics like black shorts for p.e.. I’ve also donated excess stationery to schools and on one occasion some brand new black shoes that were a bargain as they were extremely narrow (I put a label on them warning they were narrow!)

https://sell.worldofbooks.com/en-gb

This website makes it very easy to scan your books and send them to them. You don’t get very much per book, but I’ve used it to rehome some old text books which would be a bit too niche for a charity shop but which I’ve felt unable to throw away

Unfortunately I’m not in the uk so can’t go to John Lewis, I’ll try to find a charity nearby.

Yes it is more work than just putting in the bin so well done for making the effort.
British Heart Foundation have collected my furniture from the house. V efficient.
sealed cosmetics might be accepted by foodbank or give to someone you know who is involved in raffles for charities as prizes.
National Trust properties have great second hand book shops raising funds so travel books can go there and you can combine it with a lovely day out😁

Agree OP - I tried freecycle the other day, it took nearly a day for my post to be approved, by which time it had been listed, had offers and been picked up from the listing on gumtree! Also had loads of clothes, not in good enough condition to bother selling individually in bags and repeatedly tried to put them in the big containers they have in supermarkets etc but they were always all completely full, so I just gave up and binned them in the end.

Agree with the person who said it's made me re-think about how much I buy going forward.

You could try Freegle, which is another reduce, reuse, recycle website. My brother is the founder and chief technology officer.

Just put a post on Facebook with your address and a photo of everything - I promise it will still go no matter your location.

I put loads on Freecycle when I moved, when clearing my dad's house we put quite a bit in the front garden with Help Yourself on a bit of cardboard, loads went doing that.

Furniture went to local charities.

Regarding your bras, you can take them to places like John Lewis, who send them to poverty-stricken countries in conflict.
It’s an appalling reality, but girls and women who wear bras are less likely to be raped, as they are perceived as wealthy and influential.

Our tip has a container where you can put stuff that's still usable and they have a shop somewhere where they sell the stuff. I don't know where the proceeds go but at least the stuff isn't wasted. We got rid of a lot doing that when we moved.

When I had large amounts of useable stuff to get rid of I took photos and put the whole lot on Freecycle as a car boot lot - all to go as 1 lot.
From the responses I have been able to help a couple saving for a trip back to their home country and a student working to get enough money for a working trip to a 3rd world country .
Its such a good feeling when it all goes at once and the money I could have made is nothing against the relief not to have to deal with buyers.

This. If you have a local Facebook group put it all outside on a dry day, put the address, and say you are going out so can’t keep tabs on it as someone will undoubtedly ask if a particular thing is still there or if you can hold it for a week (and not turn up…).

Old books can go in the recycling.

I was going to suggest Anglo. They do take a lot of stuff and collect from you on a pre-booked date.

I have my charity bags picked up from my house as I don't drive.

Anglo are really good and if you leave them outside, they'll text and tell you when they've picked the bags up.

https://anglodoorstepcollections.co.uk/