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:

#1: 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 50 locations islandwide, including Funan Mall, Fusionopolis or stores like G2000 (full list here). If you have more than 15kg worth of items (approximately three full large black trash bags), Greensquare will pick them up at your doorstep for free — just schedule an appointment on their website (below).
More info at https://www.greensquare.com.sg/.

Greensquare

#2: 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) and Rosyth (29 Rosyth Road). Opening hours vary. Donations are not accepted at MINDS Shop Plus at Redhill.
More info at https://www.se.minds.org.sg/minds-shop.

#3: 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.

SSVP Shop (Photo: SSVP)

What they accept: Clothes, accessories, toys, household appliances, kitchenware, sports equipment in good condition. SSVP does not accept CDs/VCDs/DVDs or Blu-ray discs, bulky items like furniture, and items that are soiled or faulty.
How to donate: Drop off your donations at SSVP Shop at 501 Geylang Road. Open Tue to Sun, 10am-4pm.
More info at https://www.facebook.com/SSVPSHOPSINGAPORE.

#4: Metta Welfare Association
The non-profit organisation accepts various types of donations in kind. 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: Wearable clothing. No bags, belts or books. They also accept used IT equipment such as desktops, laptops, monitors, printers, and tablets.
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.
More info at https://www.metta.org.sg/.

#5: 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.

#6: Pass It On
We call this 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.

#7: SG Mummies United
Set up during the circuit breaker last year, 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/.

#8: 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.

Salvation Army (Photo: Red Shield Industries)

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 eight donation in-kind booths across the island, including Bishan, Bukit Timah and Upper Changi Road North. For bulky items and furniture, Salvation Army will come pick it up from your doorstep. While the service is free, you can choose to make an optional contribution of $60 to help defray rising operation costs.
For donation enquiries, WhatsApp 8520 5343 or e-mail donor [at] smm.salvationarmy.org. More info at https://www.salvationarmy.org/singapore/dik_fts.

Main photo: Unsplash/Sarah Brown