Reusing Kitchenware: How Donating Helps the Planet
Donating kitchenware helps the planet because every pan, dish or baking tray used again is one that doesn’t need to be made new. Making new kitchenware takes metal, clay, glass, energy and transport. Passing on what you already own skips all of that, and it is free to do with our doorstep kitchenware collection.
The waste hierarchy
Reuse first, recycling second
UK waste law ranks the ways of dealing with waste in order, from best to worst:
Prevent it
Buy less and make things last.
Reuse it
Pass it on so it gets used again as it is. This is what donating your kitchenware does.
Recycle it
Turn the material into something new.
Recover it
Burn it to make energy.
Dispose of it
Landfill, the last resort.
A reused saucepan is still a whole saucepan, ready to cook with tomorrow. Recycling it means melting the metal down, which takes a lot of energy, and broken crockery usually can’t be recycled with your household recycling at all. Keeping kitchenware in use as it is will nearly always do more good than breaking it down.
The cost of new
What goes into a new pan
Every new frying pan, colander or casserole dish starts with raw materials that have to be dug up, melted, fired or moulded. Metal is smelted at high heat. Plates and dishes are fired in kilns. Then the finished pans and dishes are packed and shipped, often across the world, before they reach a shop shelf.
When you pass on a pan you no longer use, someone else can cook with it instead of buying new. None of that mining, melting or shipping needs to happen again.
What it saves
What reusing kitchenware saves
Because most kitchenware is heavy and built to last, a single box of pots, pans and baking trays can carry a lot of saved carbon. Our own estimate is that every kilo of kitchenware used again, rather than made new, saves around 1.5 kg of CO2e.
Here is what that estimate means for a few example clear-outs:
Work out your own with the green calculator
These are estimates, not measurements. The 1.5 kg of CO2e per kilo is the figure we use across our site for kitchenware used again instead of made new. The examples above simply multiply it by the weight of the kitchenware, so a heavier box means a bigger estimated saving.
A second life
Where your kitchenware goes
After we collect it, your kitchenware goes back to our warehouse. There it is sorted by hand, and we pass on what can be used again. Most of what people give us is rehomed and used again by someone who needs it.
That is why we ask for kitchenware in working order. A clean, usable pan has a real chance of a second life. The whole journey is on what happens to my kitchenware?, and who it helps is on who does my kitchenware help?
When reuse isn’t possible
When recycling is the right answer
Some kitchenware really is finished: a pan with a warped base, a cracked casserole dish or a baking tray rusted through. Things like these can’t be used again, so please don’t donate them.
Metal pots, pans and trays can usually go to the scrap metal area at your council’s household recycling centre, where the metal can be melted down and made into something new. Broken plates, mugs and oven-proof glass are different. They can’t go in a bottle bank or most household recycling, so check your council’s website to see what it accepts.
So which should you do?
- Clean and in working order? Donate it. Book a free kitchenware collection.
- Broken metal pans or trays? Take them to the scrap metal area at your recycling centre.
- Not sure? Check what kitchenware can I donate?
The one thing to avoid is binning usable kitchenware. Why that matters is on why shouldn’t old pans go in the bin?
Every day
Other ways to keep kitchenware in use
- Buy second-hand pots, pans and dishes before you buy new.
- Look after non-stick pans: use wooden or silicone utensils and avoid very high heat.
- Re-season a cast-iron pan instead of replacing it.
- Check the care label before putting pans and baking trays in the dishwasher.
- Lend and borrow: a big stockpot or a roasting tin is often only needed a few times a year.
- When you do buy new, choose things built to last, such as stainless steel or cast iron.
Every pan you pass on gives someone else an affordable choice and means one less made new. You can give crockery and glassware as well, and it is all collected free from your doorstep. See donating crockery and glassware, or how to donate your kitchenware step by step.
Sources
- The waste hierarchy is set out in the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011.
- Our per-kilo figure of 1.5 kg of CO2e is the estimate we use across our site for kitchenware used again rather than made new.
Ready to donate your kitchenware?
It’s free, you don’t need to be at home, and you choose the charity your donation supports.