Emmaus Village Carlton has always received a large number of generous donations from our kind supporters.
We are so grateful to local people who bring us their quality unwanted items, to be sold in our shops. Sometimes though, we end up with too much of one particular type of item and sometimes things just don’t sell on the shop floor.
We hate to throw things away – our aim is always to find a way to ensure as many items as possible are reused and don’t end up in landfill. We are also – obviously – eager to ensure we raise as much money as possible for our charity.
Zero waste
In early 2022 we signed up for a service called Shopiago; this clever scheme helps us to get the best possible value from books, CDs, DVDs and computer games which are donated but which aren’t selling in store.
Our hard-working volunteers gather up all these items, and scan each one. Boxes of scanned items are then collected by a courier (for free) and taken to Shopiago. The company then gives us a fair price for the items, which are rehomed, donated to good causes or recycled.
Raising vital funds
Our team are now shipping on average between 10 and 20 boxes a week. By May 2022, our charity had made over £3,800 using the platform, putting us on track to raise over £10,000 in vital funds by the end of the year.
“It’s been a great asset for us. We can shift stock quickly, while still generating revenue from donations. In addition, we know that the stock itself is either going to a new home or being recycled, avoiding landfill all together, which is a real benefit.” – Tom Blight, our former Site and Recycling Manager.
So, next time you finish a good book, or walk past your old pile of CDs that you never listen to, please spare us a thought.