Time for a spring clean over the bank holiday?

Clear your home and find a new one for those items you no longer want, reduce your waste and recycle correctly.

A clear out is a great opportunity to refresh your home and it’s a great moment to think about where your unwanted items end up.

With a little planning, your spring clean can reduce waste, help others and make a difference to our environment and community! 

From unwanted clothes, books and toys to furniture, electricals and garden waste, there are plenty of easy ways to pass things on and manage your waste responsibly here in Richmond. 

Start with reuse – the most sustainable option

Before you recycle something, ask yourself: “Could someone else use this?” 

Many of your unwanted clothes or furniture will still have plenty of life left and reusing them saves money, resources and protects the planet. 

You could: 

• Give them away to friends, family or neighbours
• Share or sell them on Freegle, Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace or local WhatsApp groups

Clothes, shoes and textiles 

Donate good-quality items to local charity shops or take them to The Fixery where you can swap for other good quality items.

Book a free home collection with TRAID or drop at one of their textile banks around the borough.

Anglo Doorstep Collections offer free collections for clothing. They also take other items too such as books, videos, CDs, small electricals, kitchenware and toys with proceeds going to charity.

You can also drop textiles at Townmead Reuse and Recycling Centre, where Collect4Reuse collect these for redistribution.

Books, toys and games 

Drop these off at Townmead Reuse and Recycling Centre, where Collect4Reuse redistribute them to keep these items in circulation.

Furniture 

If your furniture is unwanted but repairable, Richmond Furniture Scheme refurbish items and sell them on at affordable prices, helping reduce landfill and give furniture a new home.

Electrical items 

Anything with a plug, battery or cable should never go in your rubbish bin. 

• Recycle small electrical items with your weekly kerbside collections or at one of our 30 community banks
• Recycle larger electrical items by booking a bulky item or fridge freezer collection
• Recycle a range of electrical items at Townmead Road Reuse and Recycling centre
• Donate or exchange unwanted electrical items in good condition
• Other ways to recycle your electricals, including at retail outlets

Recycle broken electricals responsibly – they contain valuable materials and can be dangerous if put in the bin.

Learn more about how to dispose of electricals.

Repair instead of replace 

Sometimes all an item needs is a small fix to keep it going for longer. Community groups and businesses, like Kew the Transition and Twickenham Repair Café, offer repairs for a donation. Bring your broken household items and their friendly volunteers will do their best to fix it.

The Fixery also has repair services, open on Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 4pm at Grove Gardens Chapel. You can also swap clothes, buy pre-loved teddy bears and quality second-hand craft materials, and fill up on eco household products. 

Recycle correctly 

Recycling correctly helps prevent fires, protect waste services and save valuable materials from going to waste. 

Batteries and vapes 

Batteries and vapes should never go in your household rubbish, these can cause fires if they are put in with your rubbish or recycling and must be disposed of correctly. You can:

• Return them to retailers, they are legally obliged to accept and recycle them
• Recycle batteries at your local library, leisure centre or your local supermarket
• Visit Recycle Your Electricals to find other local recycling points

Getting rid of garden waste

If you’re planning to spruce up your garden this spring, find out how to set up home composting.

You can look at our garden waste page for more information on disposing of garden waste responsibly.

Bulky items made easy 

For large items such as sofas, beds or wardrobes, you can:

• Book a bulky waste collection (up to five items per collection)
• Visit a local Mega Skip Day (you can bring up to six items)

Richmond Furniture Scheme attend the skips to rescue reusable items for repair and redistribution.

Recycling is now even simpler 

You can recycle more than ever in your weekly recycling collections of mixed containers, including:

• Clean aluminium foil and food trays
• Empty metal and plastic tubes - such as tomato puree and toothpaste
• Empty aerosol cans

A few simple reminders: 

• Rinse food containers before recycling
• Include loose metal jar lids (not attached to the jars)
• Squash plastic bottles and replace lids after rinsing to make more space in your recycling
• Pump action mechanisms should be removed and put in your rubbish
• Never include nappies or anything that could cause harm such as needles and batteries

Cleaning out doesn’t have to mean throwing away. By reusing, repairing and recycling, you can give your unwanted items a new purpose – and make your spring clean better for the planet and the community. 

For more inspiration and ideas on how to spring clean responsibly look at  where else you can donate, sell, share or repair items.