The benefits of reuse via charity shops
The benefits of reuse via charity shops
Charity shops are retail outlets selling mainly second-hand donated goods to raise funds for their parent charities. The charity retail sector is becoming an increasingly significant player in terms of demonstrating the benefits of reuse and how it can be practically realised. This paper provides an overview of the UK’s charity retail sector and considers the social, environmental and economic benefits of charity shops. We estimate there are 11,200 charity shops in the UK that employ 23,000 staff and have a volunteer workforce of 230,000. Approximately 95% of the clothes charity shops receive are either recycled or reused, diverting 331,000 tonnes of textiles from landfill and reducing CO2 emissions by 6.9 million tonnes in 2015/16. A key factor in understanding how charity shops contribute to social good includes understanding and quantifying how they might contribute to the development of the circular economy via the encouragement and practical realisation of reuse. We see this paper as a step in this process, flagging the social, environmental and economic benefits of charity shops and highlighting the need for additional research into the contribution of the charity retail sector to reuse and resource preservation/recovery.
charity shops, reuse, social benefits, economic benefits, environmental benefits, circular economy
Osterley, Robin
c74c7bc7-0b9b-4503-beb1-a08961fd5779
Williams, Ian
c9d674ac-ee69-4937-ab43-17e716266e22
2 May 2018
Osterley, Robin
c74c7bc7-0b9b-4503-beb1-a08961fd5779
Williams, Ian
c9d674ac-ee69-4937-ab43-17e716266e22
Osterley, Robin and Williams, Ian
(2018)
The benefits of reuse via charity shops.
Cossu, Raffaello
(ed.)
In SUM2018, 4th Symposium on Urban Mining and Circular Economy.
CISA Publisher..
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Charity shops are retail outlets selling mainly second-hand donated goods to raise funds for their parent charities. The charity retail sector is becoming an increasingly significant player in terms of demonstrating the benefits of reuse and how it can be practically realised. This paper provides an overview of the UK’s charity retail sector and considers the social, environmental and economic benefits of charity shops. We estimate there are 11,200 charity shops in the UK that employ 23,000 staff and have a volunteer workforce of 230,000. Approximately 95% of the clothes charity shops receive are either recycled or reused, diverting 331,000 tonnes of textiles from landfill and reducing CO2 emissions by 6.9 million tonnes in 2015/16. A key factor in understanding how charity shops contribute to social good includes understanding and quantifying how they might contribute to the development of the circular economy via the encouragement and practical realisation of reuse. We see this paper as a step in this process, flagging the social, environmental and economic benefits of charity shops and highlighting the need for additional research into the contribution of the charity retail sector to reuse and resource preservation/recovery.
More information
Published date: 2 May 2018
Keywords:
charity shops, reuse, social benefits, economic benefits, environmental benefits, circular economy
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 431047
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/431047
PURE UUID: 17c5b003-45ec-468a-9e08-9e431d652ade
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 22 May 2019 16:30
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:50
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Contributors
Author:
Robin Osterley
Editor:
Raffaello Cossu
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