UKH

Does anyone know of a charity that would appreciate donations of old but useable outdoor clothing and climbing equipment, or if the larger charities represented on the High Street (Oxfam etc) welcome such donations?

In reply to andrew ogilvie:

Hi,

You could use ROG (Recycle Outdoor Gear). ROG allows you to post an ad to sell or swap for outdoor clothing or equipment. It also allows schools, youth groups and other organisations to post ads seeking gear. ROG was set up by Sara Howcroft, who was one of the founders of Rohan, and it's endorsed by the Outdoor Industries Association. So, you could either do an ad offering your old gear for donations or contact someone who has an ad up seeking gear.

Another option is Green Peak Gear. Green Peak Gear is a pilot project with the support of the BMC that’s trying to see if a viable, self-supporting and long-term business reusing and recycling climbing gear in the UK might be possible. It collects used climbing gear and remakes and sells it as new products such as rope rugs, dog leads, dog toys, skipping ropes and jewellery. Anything not turned into a new product is recycled or given to other organisations with a strong community commitment. The last I checked, it was only really taking donations from collection bins at climbing walls in the North West, but that might have changed.

Hope that helps.

In reply to andrew ogilvie:

after working in a charity shop, there are restrictions to what they can sell and climbing gear would come under that, so it wouldnt be useful to send to a charity shop. it will just end in landfill.

In reply to andrew ogilvie:

hi Andrew,

This is really interesting I have recently come up with the idea to start a charity which would facilitate people being able to donate their old belay jacket/ waterproof / sleeping bag / fleece etc. Then for a charity to give the clothes out to homeless people.

I have been working on the idea of having collection buckets at climbing walls then for charities to come by and pick them up.

do you think their would be demand for this?

Kind Regards

Tom Nichols

In reply to andrew ogilvie:

The charity I volunteer for, WAVE adventure would be very grateful for donations of useable outdoor clothing & climbing kit.

our website is www.wave@btck.co.uk

let me know if you want further details of our work.

Thanks

Woodsy

In reply to andrew ogilvie:

Andrew,
yhm
Claudia

In reply to andrew ogilvie:

Thankyou everyone for your responses all of which I will consider carefully.

Tom Nichols: Sorry Tom I've had difficulty addressing this reply as a response to your contribution.

Hi Tom I'm afraid that I can't reliably speak for anyone other than myself but your idea my well have some value and generate some interest.I wonder if there might be problems relating to the storage of bulky items like belay jackets and sleeping bags both in terms of the space required and any heath and safety concerns arising from flammable materials and perhaps hygiene concerns around sleeping bags.
I suspect who you'd really have to speak to would be the wall managers.