21% received an unwanted or unsuitable gift in a poll from Which? about what they were given at Christmas last year. Are you left with unloved gifts or unopened food that you would rather pass on? Then Acton Reduce and Recycle hub has the solution. Pop along to St Marys Church Acton on Saturday 11th January to their unloved gift swap at the January Reduce and Recycle Hub. The Gift Swap is on from 12 to 3 pm.
Free Gift Swap
Instead of letting these presents going to waste, bring your less desirable gifts to our unloved gift swap! It’s the sustainable flipside of a secret Santa! Santa will thank you and so will the planet!
The Gift Swap is at the Reduce and Recycle hub on Saturday 11 January from 12 to 3 pm. It is a great way to redistribute something you really aren’t going to use and give it a good home. Plus unopened food can be donated to Ealing Food Bank at the hub.
As well as being a fun way to find something new. It also it helps to reduce the waste produced at Christmas and carbon footprint. It’s not exclusive to Christmas gifts either. This applies to gifts for every occasion; if you have something you just never had a use for, bring it along to swap. You never know what treasure you could leave with! For full details see Unloved Gift Swap.
If you don’t have anything to swap, come and shop the swap for a minimum donation of £5. Proceeds will be donated to local charities.
Any gifts left at the end of the swap, will be sorted and donated to local charities below and charity shops. For their Christmas Jumpers they passed all the remaining tops to Acton Scope shop.
Donate Food to Ealing Food Bank
If you have left over unopened food or treats that you want to pass onto a good cause, they will also be taking donations to Ealing Foodbank. Drop donations at the hub to support Ealing Foodbank in their ambition of anyone in our community should not go hungry. Ealing Foodbank provide three days of nutritionally balanced emergency food every week and support local people who are referred to us in crisis. They opened their first client centre in Acton in October 2013 and now have grown to 8 foodbank centres.
So check our the Ealing Foodbank latest shopping list and drop off items at St Mary’s Acton Church. The Church always has a donation box so you can donate to them all year round.
Local charities need donations and gifts
There are some great local charity shops and charities you can donate to. Usually after Christmas donation levels get too big for many charity shops to process to please bear this in mind when trying to pass on items.
Here are some local charities below with the items they are looking for this winter. Please consider passing on items to these great organisations:
- Acton Homeless take items such as men’s jeans, tracksuit bottoms, shoes and new underpants. They also take toiletries, women & children’s clothing, nappies, baby wipes, sleeping bags. Plus kitchen Items like washing up liquid, tin foil, washing powder and cooking oil. For full donation list see https://actonhomelessconcern.org/what-you-can-do.html
- Ealing Soup Kitchen take for Winter items like thermal wear, tents, sleeping Bags, umbrellas, raincoats, new underpants, toiletries, mobile phones, bags for life and some long life food, refer to the full list here https://www.ealingsoupkitchen.org/donate
- Ealing Food Bank: Every month they publish their donation list and donations are accepted at St Mary’s Church. https://ealing.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/donate-food/
Reduce the waste and do something good for 2025
Put it in your diary to come along Saturday 11 January from 12 to 3 pm, to swap your unloved gifts for something you will cherish. Or donate them to one of our local good causes.
January Reduce and Recycle Hub
Also at our January Reduce and Recycle hub & Repair Party on Saturday 11 January at St Marys Acton we have a variety of organisations, helping to reduce our waste. These organisations will help you recycle, as well as repair and reuse at Acton Market and beyond, where you can:
- Reduce
- Repair
- Reuse
- Recycle
For full details of all the activities see January Reduce and Recycle Hub & Repair Party.
Are you part of an organisation, community group or as a trader interested in getting a stall? Or you can offer some time as a volunteer to help run some of the activities, please email our Reduce and Recycle hub manager, Mary Horesh at mary.horesh@actionwestlondon.org.uk.
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