Secondhand September
Secondhand September is a campaign lead by Oxfam that promotes donating, reusing, rewearing and restyling your clothes during September – and beyond!
Shopping secondhand goes far beyond just clothes; furniture, technology, sports equipment, toys & games to name but a few.
Save money - Buying secondhand items can often be much cheaper than buying new and you can often find amazing one-off deals.
Protect the environment and conserve resources - Every time new items are made, raw materials are used; extracting (mining, quarrying and logging) raw materials creates substantial air and water pollution. We can help reduced this by re-using items where possible rather than buying new.
You can also donate items you no longer want.
Help your local community - Donating items for re-use can help your local community, especially those in need, to buy items at an affordable price. By donating items for re-use you can give items away that you no longer want and know they will be appreciated by someone.
Save energy - Donating items for re-use helps save energy. A lot of energy goes into the production of new items so by re-using unwanted items first we can help reduce the need to produce new ones.
In Buckinghamshire there are plenty of options for shopping secondhand:
- Online like Vinted, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, Freegle and LoveJunk
- High street charity shops
- High shops like Cex for electricals and gaming items
- Household Recycling Centres - all ten household recycling centres will accept items for donation to the South Bucks Hospice shops at Aston Clinton and High Wycombe. Find out more here.
The Bucks Zero Waste Map has more than 50 listings for charity shops, reuse shops and more.
Can you challenge yourself to just shop secondhand for September.... or longer?
If you need any more inspiration, look no further than:
Jen Gale - who runs a very successful Instagram page called Sustainable(ish) - challenged herself and family to buy nothing new for a year and hasn’t looked back since.
Laura is an award winning environmental scientist and influencer (otherwise known as Waste less Laura).
Hubbub is an award-winning environmental charity that’s all about inspiring action that’s good for the environment and for everyone.