What Happens to Donated Kitchenware After Collection?
Once you’ve booked a free kitchenware collection and the van pulls away from your door, your pots, pans and baking trays go back to our warehouse. There they are sorted by hand, and what can be used again is passed on, so most of it ends up cooking in another kitchen. Here is what happens to donated kitchenware after we collect it, stage by stage.
- Sorted by hand
- Most of it used again
- Kept out of the bin
- Supports the charity you choose
The journey
From your doorstep to someone else’s kitchen
Collected from your doorstep
The journey starts at your front door. You leave your kitchenware out by 7am on your collection day, in tied bags or boxes a driver can lift. You don’t need to be in.
The evening before, we email you an estimated arrival window and a link to follow the driver on the day. Packing tips and the full walk-through are on how do I donate my kitchenware?
Back to our warehouse
Our drivers collect from homes all day, then bring everything back to our warehouse, where the day’s donations are unloaded together.
Nothing is passed on straight off the van. Every bag and box goes through the same checks first.
Sorted by hand
Every bag and box is opened and every item is checked by hand. Our team sorts the kitchenware into categories: saucepans and frying pans, baking trays, casserole dishes, colanders, crockery and glassware, and the rest. It’s careful work, and it’s what makes sure each piece goes somewhere it will actually be used.
Anything that can’t be used again is separated out at this stage. That’s why we ask for kitchenware in working order: a pan with a sound base and a firm handle is far more useful to someone than one that is cracked or broken. You can check what we take on what kitchenware can I donate?
Passed on to be used again
Once it is sorted, we pass on what can be used again, so it goes where it is needed and wanted most. That is far better than a trip to the local tip: there’s no reason working kitchen items shouldn’t be rehomed and used again.
Most of the kitchenware we collect ends up back in a kitchen, frying breakfasts, roasting dinners and draining pasta for someone new. Small appliances such as kettles and toasters are covered on can I donate kitchen appliances?
The money goes to charity
What your kitchenware raises pays for the collection and the sorting, and a large percentage of the proceeds goes to the charity you chose when you booked: Action for Children, Together for Short Lives, Advance or the RSPCA, or you can plant trees with Ecologi instead. You can read more on who does my kitchenware help?
Why this journey matters. Every pan used again is a pan that didn’t need to be made new and didn’t end up in a bin. We explain what that saves on how does donating kitchenware help the planet?, and what happens to kitchenware that is thrown away on why shouldn’t old pans go in the bin?
The bigger picture
What it all means for the environment
We want kitchenware used again for what it was made for. Your old saucepans and baking trays don’t need to go to landfill: they can have a new home.
Less made new
Pots and pans are made from metal that takes energy to mine, melt and shape. Every pan that goes on to another home is one less that needs making from scratch.
The carbon it saves
Our own estimate is that every kilo of kitchenware used again, instead of made new, saves around 1.5 kg of CO2e. It is an estimate, but a heavy cast-iron pan or casserole dish soon adds up.
Your clear-out in numbers
Want to see what your own kitchen clear-out could save? Try our green calculator.
We collect from homes across most of England and South Wales: find your area on areas we cover, or see how we work with councils on council partnerships. Ready to clear your cupboards? Book a free doorstep collection and choose the charity your donation supports.
Ready to donate your kitchenware?
It’s free, you don’t need to be at home, and you choose the charity your donation supports.