As well as preventing unwanted or un-needed tableware from ending up in landfill, donating old homewares to a charity store means pre-loved items will be sold on to be loved by a new owner and raise important funds for Shelter in the process. Follow our step by step guide here.
Find the items you would like to donate and give them a good check over for chips and cracks: you can donate any unused or unwanted tableware that’s is in saleable condition but is too good to throw away. If you have items that are not suitable for donating, you may want to repurpose them in the home or garden instead.
Decide whether you would like to drop off your donations at your local Shelter store, use the Shelter 'Sort and Send' service or drop off at the Denby Pottery Village. Carefully pack your donations for their journey to a store or get them ready to be posted.
Find a Shelter store in England
Find a Shelter store in Scotland
Find a Shelter store in England
Find a Shelter store in Scotland
If visiting a Shelter store simple give your donations to a member of staff. If you would like to use the Shelter 'Sort and Send' service, please click the link below.
How to send your donation by post
How to send your donation by post
How to check your items before donating.
- Lightly tap the item on the main body and handles where applicable for a clear ring sound. A dull ring indicates the item has a hair line crack. You could use a metal table knife to do this. Important point: the item being checked needs to be sat on a surface or resting on a flat palm, not gripped by a hand as this will make a dull sound regardless.
- Check for signs of physical damage, i.e. chips, cracks. Take time under good light to circle the piece looking and feeling for faults with your fingers. Caution: broken ceramics can be very sharp so handle with care.
- Inspect for excessive signs of wear in terms of colour difference to other pieces or scratches and cutlery marks.
- Ensure all components are together. i.e. teapot has its lid or salt pot has its bung.
All ceramic products can be affected by 'metal marks' on the surface of the item - in most cases these are not scratches but occur when metal rubs against the surface of the dish leaving a metal residue which doesn't disappear on normal washing. A cleaning product like 'Bar Keepers Friend' can help remove these marks:
- Sprinkle Bar Keepers Friend onto a wet cloth or sponge.
- Rub the surface of your item gently and rinse.
- For more stubborn stains you can make a paste using a few drops of water and apply to your item, leave for one minute, then rinse thoroughly.
- On heavily coloured or decorated glazes, we would always suggest a 'spot test' on the reverse of the item first to be sure, but this method should remove any metal marks in most cases.
- Find some suitable packing materials.
- Reuse something from a parcel you’ve had delivered before like bubble wrap, tissue paper, newspaper and a box and if in doubt add a little more packaging.
- Each parcel can weigh up to 10kg and measure up to 60cm by 50cm by 50cm so make sure you weigh before sending.
- Please ensure everything is packed super well to make sure your donation arrives in one piece as anything arriving broken cannot be sold by Shelter.
- Generate a Freepost label here.
- You can either print the label off at home or show the label barcode to a member of staff at the drop-off point.
- Please add Gift Aid at this point if you’re a UK taxpayer: there’s no cost for you and Shelter can claim an extra 25p for every £1 raised through sales of your donated items.
- Find your nearest Collect+ drop-off point.
- There are thousands of conveniently located drop-off points across the country. Most of them are in local convenience stores, so you won’t need to go to a post office.
© 2025 Shelter, the National Campaign for Homeless People Limited Charity number: 263710 (England and Wales), SC002327 (Scotland).
Company number: 01038133 88 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HU Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
Company number: 01038133 88 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HU Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority