Where can you donate in Sydney? Furniture, clothes & more

Where can you donate in Sydney? Are you looking to move? Donating your unwanted furniture, clothes or books can not only help those in need, but it can make moving easier.

Where can you donate furniture and clothes before moving?

There is no doubt that a move is the ultimate time to have a good clean out and cull of all those things you are ready to let go of. While you will most definitely have rubbish to rid your life of, and you may be able to sell a few things online, you will likely be looking for a reputable and worthy Sydney charity to donate your good quality pre-loved belongings to.

Here we take a look at five charities around the harbour city for you to consider donating furniture, white goods and other house hold goods to rid yourself of those extras when moving and assist those amazing NFPs doing the hard team work. 

Re-Love

Re-Love was founded in 2019 by Renuka Fernando and Ben Stammer and is one of Sydney's leading services supporting families who need to build a home from scratch when impacted by domestic violence, those experiencing homelessness or people seeking asylum. They are a young and ambitious charity that hope to accept your high-quality donations so that they can truly uplift someone who needs a helping hand.

What donations are accepted?

Re-Love believes everyone needs a home that is more that just a "roof over their head" but setting one up from scratch can be costly. This is where Re-Love comes in. They call for people who are wanting to donate furniture to ask themselves "would they give their item to a friend?" and request people donate good quality furniture. As they are often moving people into smaller social housing apartments, they may not be able to accept large or worn furniture and ask for photos with measurements to be sent to help speed up the process.

Furniture donations aren't just for individuals, Re-Love rescues good quality, pre-owned furniture, retail returns and factory seconds from individuals and businesses. By submitting photos and measurements this allows their case workers and their clients to select items that are appropriate and deliver directly to those in need free of charge. They regularly update their website with specific items they are currently looking for. At the moment they are putting the call out for queen and double bed bases, chest of drawers and 2 - 2.5 seater couches. By donating quality furniture, you are not only reducing waste and disposal costs, but helping people in need in your community.

To submit photos and find out more information about donating furniture and white-goods, head to their donation page.

Is pickup available?

As they are a small team and flat out doing deliveries directly to those in need, Re-Love cannot collect furniture. By delivering your items to their warehouse in Botany you are providing invaluable help so they can continue to support more families in need. The Botany warehouse is open to accept donations on Wednesdays and Fridays.

For more information, head to their website.

Chests of drawers are an item that is fundamental to being in a comfortable home.

Is pick up available?

This is a small, independent charity so they cannot collect your accepted donated items with a truck, but they do have trusted and affordable transport contractors who can arrange collection at a convenient time. Otherwise, their warehouse in Macquarie Park have open days to accept donated goods.

St Vincent de Paul Society

It may have iconic status in Australia but this charity was originally founded in Paris in 1833 by a 20-year-old university student inspired by St Vincent de Paul who was a French saint whose legacy was helping the poor and homeless. “St Vinnies” are one of those charities that really are providing a broad backbone of community services and support in Australia (and all over the world) with their team of volunteers throughout their network of goodwill op shops and donation bins. There are heaps of local Vinnies shop fronts and donation centres in Sydney for you to donate furniture and household items that are in good condition.

St Vincent de Paul have many donation bins all over Sydney.

What donations are accepted?

What you can donate to Vinnies op shops:

• clothing and accessories home wares
• manchester
• children’s toys
• books
• DVDs and CDs
• furniture (although you will need to check that the Vinnies op shop you plan to donate to can take and sell furniture, if not there will be another one somewhere that may accept them as a part of their services)
• some Vinnies shops will take donations of electrical goods but check with the store first

What you cannot donate:

• clothing that is unwearable (ripped, torn, soiled, or stained) < just throw them in the bin or use as rags, don’t find charities that will send it to Africa and become a land-fill issue.
• furniture that is broken, ripped or stained < take these to the tip and recycle responsibly if possible.
• cracked or broken home wares < don't donate junk, bin it!
• stained mattresses and bedding < ewwww – just dump them!
• computers, printers and scanners < try Facebook marketplace instead, there is an active retro computing community out there who pay good money for this stuff!
• green waste & household waste < should go without saying, but …

You should only donate clothing that is not damaged or stained.

Is pick up available?

Some of the stores can arrange a free pick up service for items that are too big for you to deliver if they are acceptable for sale, however it is limited by their resources so make sure you call 13 18 12 first if you are hoping for a free furniture collection with their truck.

Check out their website here.

The Bower Reuse & Repair Centres

This is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to reducing landfill with the ethos of reuse and repair to support the circular economy by collecting donations. The Bower collect donated household items and arrange to repair and re-home them. The main objective is stop hard-waste going to landfill by fixing up unwanted products to sell at a low cost to support low income individuals and other disadvantaged community groups.

What’s accepted?

A wide variety of goods for donation will be considered at the discretion of Bower’s staff, depending on the space and resources they have available at the time. The main consideration is if the goods can be up-cycled after they are donated.

Generally, the following list of items is accepted but due to the current conditions, they are working at a reduced load (items with an asterisk are still considered at the moment), but check back with the team for updates as the situation changes:

White goods* (microwaves, fridges and washing machines in good working condition)

Electrical items* (kettles, toasters, televisions, vacuums complete and in working order)

Furniture items* (complete bed frames of all sizes, tallboys, chests of drawers, small lounges, bedside tables, mattresses in pristine condition, small dining tables with chairs, small wardrobes, rugs)

• Kitchenware
• Clothing
• Books & Music
• Doors & Windows
• Gardening Items
• Hardware & Tools
• Timber
• Plumbing
• Bric-a-Brac
• Sports & Leisure goods
• Bikes & Bike Parts
• Paint
• Boxed Tiles & Pavers

Items they do not accept are children and baby items, column heaters and plastic fans, dishwashers, ovens, ensemble bed bases, old furniture made from chipboard/MDF, large entertainment units, large exercise equipment, gas appliances, mattresses/sofa-beds, office furniture, pianos/pianolas/organs, printers/scanners/wi-fi modems, or soft furnishings.

Is pick up available?

The Bower collection truck services pick up of donations from a large area in Sydney but if you live in a participating council area and your unwanted items are worthy, you can book a convenient time for a collection via their web booking tool.

Participating councils: Bayside, Burwood, Canada Bay, Canterbury Bankstown, City of Sydney, Cumberland, Georges River, Hornsby, Hunters Hill, Inner West, Ku-Ring-Gai, Lane Cove, Mosman, North Sydney (northern suburbs), Parramatta, Randwick, Ryde, Strathfield, Waverley, Willoughby, Woollahra.

You can also deliver items to their store in Marrickville.

They can also direct you to other charities and organisations who might take the donations that they can’t by searching their online database.

Check out their website here.

The Salvation Army

The “Salvos” stores have been undertaking charitable work since their foundations in nineteenth century London, when the Industrial Revolution was at a high and poverty was a major social and spiritual challenge. Like the St Vincent de Paul Society, the Salvation Army are a global and well-established organisation who have many goodwill op shops throughout Sydney.

The Salvation Army have been helping those in need since nineteenth century London.

What’s accepted?

If there is something wrong with it, they cannot sell it, so only donate goods that you may not want, but would keep if you could. Not all op shops are able to accept all types of donations, so make sure you call your local Salvo’s store to find out what is acceptable in that particular outlet.

The Salvation Army Australia encourage you to donate good quality unwanted items such as:

• clothing and accessories
• toys
• books
• vinyl records, CDs and DVDs
• home wares
• furniture
• electrical goods

Vinyl records are back and they are a good find for retro music treasure hunters, only donate them in perfect condition.

Depending on the store’s capacity, call to discuss donating furniture, white goods or mattresses.

Please do not donate:

• computer monitors/printers/scanners/e-hardware
• building materials
• car or truck parts
• any form or weapon including replicas and martial arts
• taxidermy animals (ummm ???)

Is pick up available?

Some op shops are able to arrange a free pick up services for large items and a furniture donation that you cannot deliver yourself (call 13 SALVOS or 13 72 58 or visit their website below Salvos Stores website), although if you can move furniture yourself it does save them money that could otherwise be channeled into their charitable programs. Only deliver items you are donating during business hours unless using the bins.

Check out their website here.

Pyrmont Cares Inc.

If you want to have a more local and direct impact to those in need in the greater Sydney area, Pyrmont Cares aims to relieve poverty by collecting and providing household items, furniture, and white goods to those in greatest need through their re-homing programs. They also focus on sustainability and environmental impact.

What’s accepted?

The charity is focused on particularly collecting quality:

• washing machines
• chests of drawers
• small sofas
• small dining sets (2-4 seats and table)

They do not collect:

Mattresses, beds, clothing, soft furnishings, wardrobes, office furniture or sofas longer than 2 metres or which convert into a bed.

Is pick up available?

Pyrmont Cares services specific areas but will collect from:

Alexandria, Annandale, Balmain, Beaconsfield, Birchgrove, Camperdown, Centennial Park, Chippendale, Darlinghurst, Darlington, Dawes Point, Elizabeth Bay, Enmore, Erskineville, Eveleigh, Forest Lodge, Glebe, Haymarket, Kings Cross, Leichhardt, Lilyfield, Marrickville, Millers Point, Moore Park, Newtown, Paddington, Petersham, Potts Point, Pyrmont, Redfern, Rosebery, Rozelle, Rushcutters Bay, St. Peters, Stanmore, Surry Hills, Sydney CBD, The Rocks, Ultimo, Waterloo, Woollahra, Woolloomooloo and Zetland.

You can also visit their collection area map.

Visit their website here.

Donate responsibly

No matter where you are planning to "donate stuff", you should give every item the “mates” test. You should not consider donating household items to a charity that you would not proudly pass onto a friend. Not-for-profit organisations are not meant to be a drop ground for anything and everything that you may no longer need or stuff that is considered to be more rubbish than pre-loved. If they can’t sell it they have to dump it and that costs money, so any good you hoped to do is invalidated. If your mate won’t want your stuff, realistically neither would the charity.

If you have large items to donate and need help to move them affordably to a charity, contact us to help find a trusted removalist to help you out.

If you find that you have items that are more in the category of "trash", check out our Rubbish Removal article.

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