Recycling Used Kitchenware : any ideas?

[frecklyspeckly]

I wasnt sure to post this here or in bereavement, but i am putting it here.

I am talking about basically the contents of kitchen cupboards, everything, pans, everyday plates,glasses, cheesegraters, etc.
They are in used/worn condition but clean and servicable. Would a charity reject them because they are not perfect? and if so does anyone know of an alternative.

Got to help with a house clearance. It is my Gran's stuff. Can't bear thought of it being put in bin. Plus only have 2 days to do it in. Freecycle not an option.

Is Oxfam going to accept a load of old fashioned blankets too? I seriously mean loads.

I,live on other side of the country. Will have to take poor ds and dd too .
If they get superior about anything I will get very upset as this is very raw and emotional thing for me to have to do. will feel very upset if they turn noses up when they see the stuff.

and I wish the people who should be helping my dad do this would have helped him as he is struggling to cope and i am having to 'take charge' - not easy to put a brave face on this but someone has to empty house as it has been left for NINE months.

Ha ha !! just would like to clarify.. I mean take ds and dd to grans house and NOT to donate to Oxfam!!

Our local hospice runs a charity shop and they take these things.

Old fashioned blankets.

You could recyle those on here!

Loads of arts and crafters use textiles to make new things.

Where are you?

There will probably be MNers in the area who can come and collect stuff.

Also, a lot of people use old pans and the like to make soaps or dye textiles.

Thankyou Expat. Good ideas. (Merseyside area)

I'd list this in the For Free topic as well as in the Arts and Crafts topic.

Both are in the topic lists section.

Plenty of MNers in the Merseyside area, too.

Sad situation freckly - can understand why it is hard for you.

IIWY I would phone up some of the local charity shops and sound them out.

Up here in the Highlands we have Home Aid, a local charity which takes in old household items, donates to those in need and sells on the rest at a very low cost. Do you have anything like that where you are?

If you can't find a charity shop, take to car boot, we shifted a batch load of my (deceased) mil's bedding at car boot, I couldn't believe it, people fighting over it, for their chosen charities apparently

Local council or fire brigade often need supplies of boring household goods for people who have nothing (eg house burnt down) - they might have contacts?

Charity shops seem to vary depending on how much space they have - London shops have to be very fussy but rural ones may take almost anything. I'd phone a few and see if they can accept a carload of stuff.

I try to give things that aren't quite good enough to sell, but still perfectly functional to homeless and women's shelters. This is especially true of toys, books, clothing, underwear, toiletry samples.

Pet charities will take old blankets and towels willingly, for pet bedding and for when the animals give birth, in fact my vet surgery had a notice asking for old towels, for their post operative pens I presume.

I know there are lots of charity/volunteer groups who help people coming out of hostels and setting up home- they need this kind of stuff!
Your local volunteer council might point you in the right direction

I find freecycle is very quick - people often put deadlines on. Blankets etc - have you tried your local vet/animal rescue? I've got rid of lots that way as they always need them

Hi we had a similar situation recently, although the bereavement was not so close, which made it easier. I found charity shops to be quite fussy. But lots of places have furniture recycling projects, usually part funded by council to help keep stuff out of landfill, they too will only take upholstered stuff if fire proof (so fairly new, in other words) Try Womens Aid or Homeless chairities. In two days it will be hard, but I would try and have a house sale the day after you've arranged to get rid of as much as possible. Find out if there's a local version of Freecycle that you can advertise it on. After all that there will be some stuff left. Maybe the people who should be helping your Dad can be given the job or getting house clearance people in to remove what's left.
Good luck.

Bootsaling is quite a fun way to get rid of stuff you care about as you can see it going "to a good home". Managed to get DH to get rid of all old vinyl this way. People were saying "cool - haven't heard this for years!" and really appreciating it.

It might be fun for kids too.

i would just like to say a really big THANK YOU to all of you, I am down next week, we think some other family members may have woken up to the reality of the situation ( or dont want to miss anything!!)so can maybe count on some help.I will post and let you all know what the outcome is after the end of next week, and what went where.

Well, we just about managed it. Here is a brief summary of what happened, after three days of very hard work.

40 per cent had to go to recycling centre, which was able to accept damaged textiles,paper, metals, plastics. Much of the crockery too chipped/stained to be sold so had to go to landfill. I am sorry but we did have to tip some non-recyclable stuff (damn you mixed materials!!) but the vast majority we recycled.

2 huge boxes and some bin bags to sally army shop, when dad recovers enough to take them.

1 big box of photos and mementoes for family memebers who didn't turn up to help. It will have one month of grace and then bin if they do not collect it (as I said it has been 9 months). My dh said bin it now. I am probably soft.

Vast amounts of books to be removed by house clearance firm when they come and take furniture. I know we will get ripped off for using them but we just couldn't face dealing with anymore stuff.

We have kept about 6 big boxes of sentimental stuff which we plan to thin down when it is not so upsetting. Very grateful to have an understanding husband who didn't quibble about this (I would be a bit ).

On the whole though I found afterwards the whole process to be very upsetting and not at all cathartic as I had expected. I kept dwelling on it, should I have got rid of this or that, so I have put my share of the boxes in the loft. I do intend to deal with it within the next few months. It has changed my attitude to hoarding things. She never threw anything away and it was exausting work dealing with it. Family never showed up to help. Kept thinking my poor dad was going to collapse lugging boxes in the heat and shouting at him to slow down. He said my gran would be proud we had sorted it all out for her. I hope so. Personally I think she'd be furious for binning so much stuff!!