Donations and Scrap Collections

Reusable Item Donations

We collect donations of reusable household furniture and some electrical items free of charge for resale in our St Matthew's Street shop.

In most cases donated reusable items are provided to low income families either by a grant or sold at a reduced price. Some items are sold to the general public to help fund our efforts. We can only reuse good quality useable items, as there is a cost to us for disposing of, or recycling other items.

Scrap Item Collections

We provide a chargeable scrap collection service for electrical appliances that cannot be reused. This generally includes non-working or older appliances as well as all refrigeration appliances.

Arrange a Collection

Call us by phone: 01473 404004
Send us an email: shop@ipswichfp.org.uk
Please include a phone number so that we can call you back to arrange collection.

What We Can and Cannot Collect

Items we collect for donation - FREE

All reusable household furniture (see red list below for exclusions).

Working electric cookers (not gas).
- Electric cookers must be disconnected prior to collection, we can disconnect by prior arrangement for £24.

Washing machines, tumble dryers with a CE mark.
- Washing machines must be disconnected prior to collection.

Working flat screen TVs with a CE mark.

Flat screen computer monitors (19" or above).

Sofas and armchairs (subject to dimensions - see below).

Beds and mattresses.

Cots (subject to safety requirements - see below).

Bedroom furniture including freestanding wardrobes.

Dining tables and chairs.

Sideboards (subject to dimensions).

Coffee tables and side tables.

Office chairs and study desks.

Bathroom cabinets and mirrors.

Rugs and carpets.

Exercise bikes (in good working order).

Donated soft furniture fire safety requirements
All donated soft furniture must have a current fire warning label still attached, which states that the item complies with the 1988 Fire and Furnishing Regulations or conforms to British Standard 7177 (blue label).

Donated large furniture dimensions (what is too large?)
Sadly we are unable to reuse some particularly large items as we struggle to store them and get them into smaller properties. Items include (but are not limited to) sofas longer than 200cm with a tall back, large wall units, large dressers and long sideboards.

Cots (the rules on cots safety)
- The internal height of the sides and ends must be at least 600mm.
- Spacing between cot bars must be not be less than 25mm or greater than 60mm.
- Cots must not have any open ended tubes, sharp edges or easily removed small parts.

Gas appliances
We do not accept Gas appliances for re-sale but can collect them for a fee (see next section below).

Items containing glass
Any glass used in items of furniture such as coffee tables, TV units and wall cabinets must be safety glass (i.e. toughened or laminated) to prevent injury on impact. Glass which complies is usually marked with a BS number and kitemark and/or is clearly labelled as "Toughened Glass", "Tempered Glass" or "Safety Glass".

Electric heaters and fires
Electric heaters and fires must meet current safety requirements.

Rejection of items
We have limited space and will sometimes have to decline items. This may reflect quantities we have in stock, or our knowledge of the demand for a particular item.

Our drivers are instructed which items we may not be able to take away at the time of collection. Drivers are asked to use their discretion based on this information so please don't be offended if we are unable to collect specific items.

All donations are collected entirely at our discretion.

If you are in doubt about any of these exceptions please contact us to arrange a viewing prior to collection.

Items we charge to collect for recycling...
Single item £24 | 2-3 items: £30 | Extra items (i.e. item 4, 5, 6 etc.): £12 per item

All domestic electrical appliances without a CE mark.

All fridges, freezers, fridge freezers, dishwashers and spin dryers.

Non-working cookers, washing machines and tumble dryers.

Gas appliances.

Integrated kitchen appliances (must be disconnected and removed prior to collection).

CRT TVs and CRT computer monitors.

Flat screen computer monitors less than 19" in size.

Older or non-working heaters and fires ("older" means the spacing between the bars is too large to meet modern safety requirements).

Disposal proceeds
All items are handled by us and disposed of properly by authorised treatment facilities. All proceeds are fed back into Ipswich Furniture Project (a non-profit making charity).

Outdoor items
Clean and dry items can be collected from inside your property. Items that must be placed outside should not be visible from the road to discourage unauthorised theft.

Cancellation
Please call us as early as possible (ideally at least 1 working day prior to collection) to cancel.

Items we cannot accept for donation or recycling
Soft furnishings containing tears or stains.
Soft furnishings (e.g. sofas, mattresses and padded chairs) without fire labels.
Any item containing asbestos (e.g. some ironing boards and fire surrounds).
Any item containing glass which is not safety glass (i.e. toughened/tempered).
Heavily damaged items.
Some older cots and bunk beds (due to spacing between the bars).
Child car seats, booster seats, cycle helmets and crash helmets.
Bicycles.
Large office clearances.
Clothing and shoes.

Gift Aid

If you are a UK taxpayer, you may use us as your agent to sell the items you donate, whereby on us selling the item, you can then automatically Gift Aid the proceeds and we can claim an additional 25 pence for every one pound donated from the sale. There is no cost to you and we will provide and process all the paperwork as your agent. You will be issued with a unique donor number which will be attached to all your donations to enable us to keep track of these transactions. After the items are sold we will write to inform you of the amount raised and give you the required cooling off period before claiming the Gift Aid amount from HMRC.

We reserve the right to exclude items from this scheme if not financially viable.

Ipswich Furniture Project is a charity registered in England and Wales, charity number 1151719, registered company number 05170995.
VAT registration number GB 676720214.
Registered Address: Hogarth Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP3 0EY.

Photography kindly provided by CP Creative.