ReActon Hub: Free Books, Uniforms & Paint & clothes repair

ReActon is open in June on Mondays from 11 am-2 pm and Fridays from 12 noon-3 pm. This is a opportunity for everyone to get reusing & recycling. Ealing Repair cafe are running sessions for clothes repair and learning how to upcycle t-shirts into yarn. You can also get free books, school uniforms, and household paint. Drop off clothes, school uniform, books, tools and small electrical items during opening hours. Come along and get reusing and recycling.

ReActon Opening hours in June

Our location is ReActon, Stirling Road, Acton, W3 8DJ Google maps.

We are open Monday from 11 am-2 pm and Friday from 12 noon-3 pm.

ReActon is a hub for the circular economy, providing a space for reuse and repair. ReActon is about making the most of what we already have. We are opening two days a week so that people can get more access to the activities.

During opening times, you can take for free:

• books from our book donation tables
• school uniform – high school & primary, including branded and non branded uniform. Full details of the project Ealing free school uniform
• household paint for DIY projects

We also run regular events that have a variety of activities such as clothes, bike and electrical repair, and other circular economy activities. Find out more about what is coming up at ReActon Hub and events. Ealing Council and West London Waste Authority run these events.

School Uniform Free Shop and Swap

Our school uniform project gives away free school uniform to families around the borough at hubs and pop-up events. You can bring old school uniform to donate or take for your children school uniform for free.

As well as ReActon, we have regular pop up events in Southall, West Ealing and a hub at Greenford library. See the School uniform project for more information.

Support our project by donating school uniform and clothes hangers that you no longer need or want. If you can’t make the event, please drop it off at one of our collection points. We accept school uniforms that are washed, clean and in good condition. However, it is not essential that you bring items, you can take up to 4 school uniform items.

Our Ealing School Uniform Swap since August 2025 (when we started collecting) to January 2026 has:

• helped 265 families have taken over 800 school uniform items which are back in use. The swap saved over 1980 kg of carbon and 333,600 litres of water. This is because making clothes takes large amounts of energy and water to make. The water saved is equivalent to what 370 people will drink in water for a year!*
• Over 2.5k items of primary and high school uniform donated to our project. Thanks to all who have donated.

This project helps families save money and by wearing our clothes for longer so we can reduce our waste.  For full details see Ealing school uniform swap.

Free household paint for DIY projects

Each year it is estimated that 50 million litres of paint goes to waste in the UK. This leftover paint is either thrown away despite over 50% of it still being usable.

If you have paint you don’t want, take it to Greenford Road reuse and recycling centre. Book a slot to drop the paint off and any other items you want to recycle. You can also take paint from the Greenford site in the Repaint section.

This paint is part of the Community RePaint project. Their mission is to make use of this wasted paint by offering a solution for leftover paint and making it available for reuse.

Free Books

Get or drop off books at our free book stall. It’s a simple, money saving and eco way to get a good read without having to buy new. Either bring along any books that you no longer want and take away some inspiring books or do both. We want to keep more books in circulation, being read rather than going to waste.

We are looking for more books to widen our selection, so please bring along any donated books you have during the opening times above.

Clothes, small electricals, tools and other teracycle items accepted

Bring along unwanted clothes, small electricals, tools and Terracycle recycling along to us when we are open. Donating, repairing, and recycling unwanted clothes and electrical items is a great way to reduce waste, prevent it going into landfill, and save resources. Millions of tonnes of textiles and electrical items are discarded annually in the UK, yet many of these can be repurposed or reused.

Clothes

Drop off your unloved and unwanted clothes, including school uniform at the event. The uniform will be part of our project and the other clothes will be passed onto West London Waste Authorities partners. 

If you can’t make it along on the day, Traid offers a free home collections of unwanted textiles as well as small electrical items at a time convenient for you. If have at least one bag of textiles for collection, any small electrical waste, (small meaning it fits in a bag for life or shopping bag) can be collected at the same time. Book a Traid free home collection

Small Electricals

For small electrical items that are broken, and it can fit into a standard bag for life bring it along to ReActon. If the small electricals are in working order, please drop them off at one of our local Charity shops that accept electrical items. In the UK, we discard 155,000 tonnes of electricals every year. Let’s get reusing or recycling them in Ealing, so don’t bin them, pass them on, donate them or recycle them.

Garden and other tools to Tools with a Mission

Tools with a mission collects unwanted usable tools, refurbishes them, and sorts them into trade tool kits for livelihood creation. Their mission is to empower people and groups in need, offering them a way through tools to put poverty in the past for good and begin their own sustainable careers. In doing so, we also enrich our local UK communities through volunteering opportunities and waste reduction, contributing significantly to environmental sustainability.

Please donate gardening tools such as forks, spades, hoes, rakes, hand forks and trowels, loppers, secateurs, shears, cultivators, sickles, shovels, axes, bow saws, trimmers and strimmers, ladders/step-ladders, wheelbarrows, pressure washers, and lawnmowers (all types). For full details of all the tools they want go to Tools wanted list.

Through their ‘local to global’ model, they prevent over 200 tonnes of tools from crowding UK landfills annually and engage local communities, offering volunteering opportunities that nurture skills and foster social connections. The impact of our work resonates globally, as we supply refurbished tools to over 500 organisations in the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa. These tools equip individuals with the skills needed to completely transform their lives and communities. 

Recycle with Terracycle

Terracycle offers free hard to recycle programmes. Please collect and drop off these TerraCycle recycling items below:

• Pringles® Tube Free Collection: For Pringle Tubes with the metal bases only. No other brands or tube are acceptable.
• Pladis Biscuits and Snacks Recycling: All brands of plastic biscuit wrappers, all brands of plastic cake wrappers and all brands of plastic cracker wrappers. No paper or foil wrappers.
• Taylors Coffee and Yorkshire Tea Free Recycling: All brands of coffee bean pouches, individual coffee bag sachets, ground coffee pouches, bulk bags of tea bags, loose leaf tea packs. Not accepted are coffee capsules, coffee grounds, cardboard packaging, tea bags or individual tea bag sachets.

If you are unable to make it on the day, you can also drop these items off at Greenford Reuse and Recycling Centre. Find out more at Ealing Terracycle Partnership

Join us to get reusing and recycling

Come along to the ReActon at ReActon, Stirling Road, W3 8DJ in our opening hours above.  

Share with your friends and family to get reusing and recycling more in Acton and Ealing. Share from our ActForEaling Facebook page  and Ealing Recycling Facebook page and Ealing Recycling Instagram