A Greener Christmas: Donate Your Once-Loved Items

The run-up to Christmas is the perfect time for a clearout. There’s nothing better than starting a new year free of all that clutter you’ve been meaning to get rid of for yonks. But just because you no longer have use for the items at the back of your cupboard, it doesn’t mean no one else will. Rather than resigning your old items to the bin, consider donating. Edinburgh is strewn with second-hand stores and charity shops where your old belongings can find appreciative new homes.

If you’re unsure of where to take your once-loved items, the Edinburgh Reuse Map can help. Powered by Changeworks, the map is a quick and easy way to find places across the city where you can fix, buy or donate.

Leith-based photographer and filmmaker Simon Hird has been using the Edinburgh Reuse Map recently to find new homes for his once-loved items. With his photography, he has a drive to capture what’s in front of him, to see something in a different light, and maybe change someone’s opinion of a place or simply encourage someone to get out and about. Outwith photography, you’ll find him hiking and camping around Scotland, finding new coffee spots in Edinburgh or spending time in North Devon with his family and cat Max.

As part of The City of Edinburgh Council’s annual campaign to encourage residents to reduce waste over the festive period, we caught up with Simon to hear about his experience using the Edinburgh Reuse Map and the other ways he's planning to be greener this Christmas.

The Skinny: How conscious are you of waste at this time of year?

Simon Hird: I think this time of year I’m always aware of the heightened levels of waste from packaging, gift wrapping, unwanted gifts and excess food waste. When making choices for Christmas gifts I am always trying to buy things with minimal packaging/wrapping or second-hand items that I think will be enjoyed by friends or family members.

We recently received a little potted Christmas tree for our flat in Leith, which is sitting quite happily on our windowsill, we are hoping we can care for that for future years to come to reduce the waste of a Christmas tree each year.

For me, food waste is the thing I really work hard on to reduce. I will always do my best to get creative with items of food left in the fridge at the end of the week and come up with something tasty and eclectic to make sure all food is used up. Normally over Christmas, we will live on the leftovers for a fair few days after Christmas day itself and one of our favourite traditions now is to make boxing day pizzas using leftovers from Christmas day as toppings!

I believe you donated gifts this year with the help of the Edinburgh Reuse Map. What did you give away and why?

I donated a hiking bag, some hiking shorts, a book and a wallet. After having a bit of a clear out of the flat I found a few things that I am no longer using, but I am sure would be put to good use by someone else.

image: Simon Hird

Where did you donate these gifts?

I donated them at All Together Edinburgh on Leith Walk (no. 57), a charity that creates training and employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities. Using the Edinburgh Reuse Map I actually discovered they weren't far at all from my home and learned a bit more about the awesome work they do.

I also believe you used the Edinburgh Reuse Map to find local second-hand shops where you could do some Christmas shopping for your loved ones. What shop did you discover?

McNaughtan's Bookshop (3A, 4a Haddington Pl), which sells an amazing variety of second hand and antiquarian books.

What did you pick up there?

I found two second-hand books to give as Christmas presents this year. One was The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith and the other was The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories by George Mackay Brown.

image: Simon Hird

How easy was the Edinburgh Reuse Map to use?

The Edinburgh Reuse Map was super easy to use and I love how you can narrow down your search by choosing the different options. I like how easy it is to flick between the list view and the map view to see where each organisation is. It’s super helpful that there is some info about each organisation on the website too so you can figure out which organisation is right for what you need.

Can you see yourself using the Edinburgh Reuse Map in different ways? If so, how else might you use it?

Yes definitely, it’s super helpful to find out where you can donate or buy certain second-hand items. I can also imagine using it if I need to fix something as there are quite a few places on there you can take things in to be fixed or borrow tools to fix things yourself.

Do you have any other plans to help reduce your Christmas waste this year?

I’ve tried to be very thoughtful with my Christmas gifts, to make sure everything I gift will be well used/loved by the recipient (at least I hope it will!). I’ve tried to shop second-hand where I can and avoid excess packaging too. We’ll aim to keep food waste at a minimum by re-purposing or freezing leftovers and won’t be buying single-use items like Christmas crackers etc.

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To try the Edinburgh Reuse Map yourself, head over to the Edinburgh Reuse Map
And find out more about how you could have a greener Christmas at edinburgh.gov.uk/greenchristmas

Follow Simon at @simonhird