Where To Donate Used Clothes, Toys, Furniture & Other Pre-Loved Items In Singapore

Whether you’re spring-cleaning for Chinese New Year or are inspired by Marie Kondo to declutter your home, don’t just blindly trash the items you don’t want and add to the increasing amounts of waste. Donate them to a good cause instead. But remember to only include items that are in good and usable condition — these are not dumping grounds, okay?

Here’s where you can donate pre-loved clothes, shoes, furniture, and even electronic goods, and other secondhand items in Singapore:

Cloop

In a bid to reduce textile waste, this local social enterprise collects reusable clothes and textiles that are then sorted out and repurposed in various ways — even those that are stained or torn. The items are then sorted out at Lifeline Clothing, a textile recycling facility in Malaysia. Where possible, items will be reused, resold, upcycled or donated. To avoid landfill, what’s left is sent to a cement plant where waste is burnt with coal for energy and the residue is used to produce cement, according to a CNA report.

What they accept: Clothes, bed and other household linens, soft toys, bags, caps, and even shoes, regardless of condition.

How to donate: Drop off your items at one of over 100 yellow Cloop textile recycling collection bins islandwide (full list here).
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The Reloved Collective

The thrift and consignment store is holding a donation drive until the end of January and is accepting donations of secondhand goods to be sold in-store at Kreta Ayer. Ten per cent of The Reloved Collective’s (TRC) proceeds from sales of preloved items will be donated to Community Chest.  

What they accept: New or preloved clothes, bags, shoes, and accessories that are in good condition.

How to donate: Drop off the donations at The Reloved Collective’s space at 333 Kreta Ayer Road, #02-27, Singapore 080333. DM them on Instagram to schedule an appointment to drop off your donations.
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Dignity Mama

Got preloved books to donate? Take them to Dignity Mama, an initiative that collects unwanted books to sell. Helmed by social organisation Project Dignity, which works with differently-abled young people, the donated books are sold at booths in hospitals in Singapore staffed by young people with special needs and caregivers, and equips them with skills required to run a stall.

What they accept: Preloved books in good condition — children’s books, adult fiction (except science fiction), adult non-fiction books on various topics from business and wellness to photography and computer science are all accepted. Non-English books are accepted on a case-by-case basis. Books with controversial content, including banned books or those with religious, political or sexual content, will be rejected.

How to donate: Drop them off at Dignity Mama booths at Ng Teng Fong Hospital (1 Jurong East St 21, Tower A NTFGH Clinics #02-10, Singapore 609606) or National University Hospital Medical Centre (1 Lower Kent Ridge Road #01-39, One@KentRidge Singapore 119082). Up to three grocery bags or A4-sized boxes of books accepted per person.
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Active SG

The next time you’re clearing out your shoe cabinet, don’t just throw those old kicks away. Do good for the earth and donate them to recycle as part of Sport SG’s shoe waste collection program.

Yes, you can now donate sports shoes, school shoes and other rubberised footwear at over 120 collection points islandwide, and these will be recycled (read more here).

What they accept: All rubberised shoes — including sports shoes, school shoes and football boots (without metal studs) — and rubberised slippers and sandals without metal parts.

How to donate: Drop your used footwear off at one of the black bins (pictured above) at one of over 120 collection points islandwide.
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Greensquare

Singapore generates heaps of textile waste, but only a meagre seven per cent gets recycled. Greensquare aims to increase that number by collecting recyclable textiles. They’re then sorted out according to their condition — items in good condition are sold to secondhand textile importers in developing countries to help support their free collection services and other eco-educational activities. Those that cannot be resold will be recycled and sold as industrial cleaning cloth.

What they accept: Clothes, shoes, household linen or accessories. Do not donate dirty, stained, wet or moldy items. Soft toys, fabric, books, kitchenware, used undergarments and socks, comforter and pillows are also not accepted.

How to donate: Drop off pre-loved items at over 30 locations islandwide, including Funan Mall, Fusionopolis or stores like G2000 (full list here). If you have five bags or more of donations, Greensquare will pick them up at your doorstep for a fee of $5 — just schedule an appointment on their website.
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MINDS Shops

MINDS (Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore) Social Enterprise is a voluntary welfare organisation that provides vocational opportunities to people with intellectual disabilities. Among these are MINDS Shops that sell donated items. Net revenue from sales go towards paying their monthly allowances and lunch expenses during training.

What they accept: Clothes, shoes, accessories, baby and kids toys and supplies, home appliances (less than one year old), electronics, kitchen and homeware, furniture, sports equipment, tools (hardware, design and craft), and more.

How to donate: Drop items off at MINDS Shops at Margaret (800 Margaret Drive), Woodlands (30 Woodlands Ring Road). Opening hours vary.
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SSVP Shop

SSVP Shop is secondhand store set up by the Society of St Vincent de Paul selling donated pre-loved items. Proceeds raised by the social enterprise will go towards those in need of financial aid.

What they accept: Handbags, wallets, watches, jewellery, electronic items, musical instruments, kitchenware, household appliances and items that are in good condition. Limited to two shopping bags of donations. At the moment, the store is not accepting donations of women’s clothes, as well as shoes, books, CDs, DVDs and bulky items such as furniture.

How to donate: Drop off your donations at SSVP Shop at 501 Geylang Road. Open Tue to Sun, 10am-4pm.
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Metta Welfare Association

The non-profit organisation accepts various types of in-kind donations. For pre-loved clothes, Metta Welfare Association donates them to a recycling organisation to be recycled, in exchange for donations based on the total weight of items collected.

What they accept: Generally, new electronics and furniture, and wearable preloved clothes (no belts, bags, books, toys). However, the list of specific items varies according to their current needs and wishlist. Check the updated list here.

How to donate: Deposit items at the Metta Building’s recycle bins at Basement 1, 32 Simei Street 1, S(529950). Open on weekdays 7.30am-5.30pm and on weekends at 8.30am-4pm.
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H&M

The fast fashion giant’s Garment Collecting programme takes in old clothes and home textiles. Depending on their condition, these are then sorted into three categories: to rewear (sold as secondhand clothes), reused (turned into other products like cleaning cloths) or recycled for other uses (like insulation material, for instance). In return, you get a 15 per cent discount voucher for your donations.

What they accept: Pre-loved clothes or textiles in any condition.

How to donate: Drop your pre-loved clothes off at the recycle bin at payment counters at any H&M outlet.

Pass It On

Think of this as the Tinder for secondhand items. Pass It On connects the people with items to donate to the folks who need them, via its online platform.

What they accept: Voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) registered on the site (there are almost 400 at press time) can submit requests for items they need on the Wish List section of the website. Got stuff to donate? Trawl through the listings and fulfil someone’s wishlist. Or if there isn’t a match, post a picture and description of your items anyway and wait for Pass-It-On to connect you to someone who might need them.

How to donate: Keep an eye out for requests at www.passiton.org.sg.

SG Mummies United

Set up during the circuit breaker in 2020, this Facebook group is a blessings community that aims to help mothers who may be struggling to make ends meet.

What they accept: Mums can make requests for items they need — it could be anything from baby or household supplies, and anyone who’s willing to help can step forward to provide these items. Choose to buy or donate items you already have on hand — most popular items requested for are formula milk and diapers, followed by groceries. However, secondhand items such as clothing, shoes, breast pumps and even books are welcome as well.

How to donate: Join the Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/sgmummiesunited/.

Salvation Army

An oldie, but a goodie. Salvation Army is probably one of the first places you think of when it comes to donating pre-loved items. Items will then be sold at Salvation Army’s five Family Stores islandwide with proceeds going to charity.

What they accept: Clothes, homeware, kitchenware, furniture, accessories and more. Take note, though, don’t mistake this as a place to dump your rubbish. As usual, only donate items that are still in good and usable condition. It’s just basic courtesy, people.

How to donate: You can drop off donations of pre-loved goods at Salvation Army’s nine donation in-kind booths across the island, including Bishan, Bukit Timah and Upper Changi Road North. For donation enquiries, e-mail donor [at] smm.salvationarmy.org.
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Main photo: Unsplash/Sarah Brown