Donating duvets to charity

PasturesNew

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Is it?

Don't people wash their charity shop buys as a matter of course?

My answer is "it's never just one thing". The one thing that is the visible action is backed with other things.

So, to make a sweeping statement, duvets can be bought quite cheaply from some places. The sort of person that was considering buying a duvet from a charity shop is more likely to not have a good/working washing machine and/or one that's large enough to take a duvet and/or space etc for drying it.... so they'd be looking at buying that duvet, then spending £7+ at the local launderette to get it washed/dried. Or, more than the cost of buying a cheap new one from a supermarket/similar.

For the shop, it'd take up a lot of space and couldn't be sold for a high price, so it'd take up valuable space where items that could be sold for more money could have been sitting.

Katiehound

I use donated duvets (which would go to landfill- that's where they end up!) cut them, hem them and make them into doggy duvets which I sell for charity...... on my way towards £3,000 . My house looks like a factory!
Because the duvets I get are cut up into quarters I can easily wash them in a domestic machine.

I think some social services may take duvets and bedding ........ what about a community larder? Ours collects not only food but toiletries, cleaning products etc. I suspect some of it comes down to lack of storage facilities.

Serendipitious

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Is it?

Don't people wash their charity shop buys as a matter of course?

I'm sure they do but that is looking at it from the customer point of view.

Charities not taking them for hygiene reasons is due to the charity's point of view. Which is that they are simply not allowed to offer for sale anything that is hygienically dubious. They cannot rely upon the assumption that everyone will wash them, nor can they make it a condition of sale. So they have categories of items that are unacceptable. Everything acceptable that is made of fabric can be steam cleaned on site.

Duvets would need a high temp wash in a large launderette machine to kill the dust mites and bacteria. But in the case of feather fillings, it's not so much the washing but the drying which costs the most. Some can take hours and hours, and the driers can cost £1 for 10 minutes.

downshifter

When I worked for a homeless charity we were offered a whole guest house (which was closing down) full of bedding. Sheets etc we could take but not pillows or duvets for hygiene reasons, even though they seemed spotless. Very understandable. Duvets are a nightmare to wash and dry but we did accept used sleeping bags as we could wash and dry those ourselves, they were generally used as loans to people who were sleeping rough or in tents (which we also loaned out) so when they were returned they were washed ready to be loaned again.

Definitely one for the local pets home. However if you'd like to support a homeless charity then please make a donation so they can buy nice new duvets for someone who is moving off the streets and setting up home in a new flat. That would be great!

teddysmum

Animal recues will take them, though some are reluctant to take feather filled ones, as some dogs love to rip those open.

asajj

Charities are bound by law and regulations and they have to be careful about health and safety. Charity shops are not really to collect all unwanted stuff and they are run like any other high street shop, especially in certain areas. Rag companies are also very particular about what they buy from charity shops - so beddings, curtains could be recycable but duvet and cushions might not be. Similarly electrical goods are not good to donate either. Such items incur costs to get rid of so charities rightly ask people not to donate them.

If you really want to give it to someone instead of binning, you could give directly to a homeless person. Or pet shelters as above.

grumpygardener

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Is it?

Don't people wash their charity shop buys as a matter of course?

Washing isn't as straightforward as it seems, as some bacteria are more than able to survive up to (and possibly beyond) 110° C. Bleaching might help but may harm the filling in the duvet.

LadyDee

Hygiene, health & safety gone mad. Doing my usual browse round local(ish) charity shops last week, some of the shops (Oxfam was one of them) was really smelly, full of old, worn-out junk that should be shredded; stained, secondhand tops at ridiculous prices. Some items which, even if washed, couldn't be guaranteed not to harbour something nasty. Everything so jammed in that even if you had several hours to waste, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything worth buying. Dirty clothes that you'd consign to the bin. Yuck.

Kitchen items that were grimy and greasy (hate to think what bugs were duplicating in that well-used cooking tin).

All this, and the windows plastered with signs pleading for desperately-needed donations.

Generally, I only buy jigsaws in charity shops nowadays and the occasional book. Oh yes, the books. Health & Safety? I remember having measles as a child and the books my mother had borrowed from the library for me had to be treated by the library before they were put back on the shelves. Perhaps books will be the next thing on the "Sorry, we're not allowed to take ......" list.

Primrose

I can't believe that people would donate clothes to charity shops without washing them but obviously some do. Why don't charity shops put up notices saying "no clothes accepted unless they have been washed first". It seems basic good manners to me in treating other people respectfully, even if you don't know them but some people sadly don't have much understanding of civilised behaviour.

LadyDee

nanto3girls wrote: »

Even if mine were like new,i wouldn't expect anyone to want them.We gave ours to kennels,who said they like them for bedding for the dogs.

I donated some duvets and blankets to an animal sanctuary but if I'd have come across someone sleeping in a doorway I suspect that person would have been very grateful for a nearly new duvet or two.