Check it before you bag it up.
Charity shops have to say no to a surprising amount — for legal, safety and hygiene reasons. Type what you're donating and see which of the 44 UK charities we track can't take it, why, and what to do instead.
78 items · 44 charities · checked monthly
Nothing by that name here — try the full search, which also looks inside each charity's wording.
Baby & children
Furniture
Homeware & household
Electrical
- Large appliances and white goods
- Microwave ovens
- Used printers and ink cartridges
- Electric blankets and heat pads
- Gas appliances
- Oil, paraffin and petrol heaters
- Computers, phones and other data-holding devices
- Old-style (CRT) televisions and monitors
- E-scooters, hoverboards and e-bikes
- Vapes and e-cigarettes
- Sunbeds and UV lamps
- Broken or untested electrical items
- Electric showers
- Used or unsealed personal-care electricals
- Waste-disposal units
- Hardwired storage heaters
- Used or hardwired ceiling and wall lights
DIY & garden
Safety equipment
Mobility & medical
Health & beauty
Sharps & weapons
Hazardous materials
Food & drink
Media & books
Restricted materials
Bedding & textiles
Clothing & accessories
Sport & outdoor
Other
Matches in charity guidance
These specific phrases are still being consolidated into item pages. Open the charity entry for the full context, or use the full search.
- Branded uniforms — Acorns Children's Hospice
- Bulky curtains — Age UK
- Small electricals (food processors, coffee grinders) — Barnardo's
- Homemade knitted clothing — British Heart Foundation
- Gaming machines — British Heart Foundation
- Oil lamps — British Heart Foundation
- Furniture painted with lead paint — British Heart Foundation
- Electric fires — British Red Cross
- Dentures and prosthetics — British Red Cross
- Earrings/jewellery for pierced body parts — British Red Cross
- Second-hand children's shoes (except unworn wellies, jellies, flip flops) — British Red Cross
- Used breast pumps, sterilisers, baby monitors (only brand new & PAT tested) — British Red Cross
- Religious items (crucifixes, menorahs, Buddha statues, rosaries, nativity sets) — British Red Cross
- Golliwog-related items (dolls, toys, badges, books) — British Red Cross
- Sex aids or sex toys (any condition) — British Red Cross
- Cooling towers or fans — Cancer Research UK
- 2 pin plug adapters — Cancer Research UK
- Prosthesis, dentures — Cancer Research UK
- Cigarette and drug-related items — Cancer Research UK
- Plant seeds — Cancer Research UK
- Pornographic/adult material, toys & accessories — Cancer Research UK
- Manual shaving kits — Cancer Research UK
- Culturally insensitive items — Cancer Research UK
- World War 2 gas masks — Cancer Research UK
- Used medical devices (e.g. blood pressure monitors) — Cancer Research UK
- Used pierced, costume, branded or fine metal jewellery — Cancer Research UK
- Small magnetic toys — Cancer Research UK
- Self-feeding pillows — Cancer Research UK
- Used breast pumps, sterilisers — Cancer Research UK
- Used children's shoes — Cancer Research UK
- Blankets — Claire House Children's Hospice
- Showers — Claire House Children's Hospice
- Single-use plastics — Claire House Children's Hospice
- Broken or soiled toys — Cornwall Hospice Care
- Incomplete board games and jigsaw puzzles — Cornwall Hospice Care
- Outdoor tree-hanging swings and hammocks without safety instructions — Cornwall Hospice Care
- Items supplied by the NHS — Cornwall Hospice Care
- Sanitary items or nappies — Cornwall Hospice Care
- Damaged pictures or frames — Cornwall Hospice Care
- Tents — Cornwall Hospice Care
- Landline telephones (subject to discretion) — Cornwall Hospice Care
- Mains Christmas/fairy 240v lights — Cornwall Hospice Care
- Safety equipment and eye protection — Cornwall Hospice Care
- Stepladders and ladders — Cornwall Hospice Care
- Promotional CDs given away for free — Cornwall Hospice Care
- Dangerous or unhygienic items — Crisis
- Lawn mowers — DEBRA
- Children's dressing up clothes without a CE label — DEBRA
- DVDs intended for sale outside Europe — DEBRA
- Items marked 'not for resale' — DEBRA
- Christmas lights — Dogs Trust
- Anything worn, stained, or in need of repair — Dogs Trust
- Soft furnishings from before 1988 — Dorothy House
- Baby carriers — Dorothy House
- Patio heaters — Dorothy House
- School uniform — Dorothy House
- Clothing marked with name tags — Dorothy House
- CDs/DVDs given away free with publications — Dorothy House
- Used computer software — Dorothy House
- Computer games without original packaging/age labels — Dorothy House
- Ladders — Emmaus
- Bulk office furniture (unless by prior arrangement) — Emmaus
- Baby toys — Emmaus
- Broken toys and broken baby equipment — FARA Charity Shops
- CDs / DVDs — FARA Charity Shops
- Chipped ceramics and glass vases — FARA Charity Shops
- Soft furnishings (rugs, curtains) without fire tags attached — Great Western Air Ambulance Charity
- Electric fires — LOROS Hospice
- Damaged, stained or broken items (general rule) — Marie Curie
- Baby bottle prep machines (unless brand new) — Overgate Hospice
- Branded workwear (not accepted for recycling) — Overgate Hospice
- Beds — Phyllis Tuckwell
- Video recorders — Princess Alice Hospice
- Electric beds — Princess Alice Hospice
- Ovens with glass fronts/doors — Princess Alice Hospice
- Oil and gas Agas — Princess Alice Hospice
- Bunk, divan, king-size+, cabin (without instructions) and IKEA beds — Princess Alice Hospice
- Typewriters (unless antique) — Princess Alice Hospice
- Personal Protective Equipment (knee pads, elbow pads, padded biker suits) — Salvation Army (SATCoL)
- Sunglasses without indicated UV protection rating — Salvation Army (SATCoL)
- Children's games (unless new/sealed) — Samaritans
- Sleeping bags and mattress toppers (unless new/sealed) — Samaritans
- Handmade/knitted items (unless new/sealed) — Samaritans
- Broken bric-a-brac — Sense Scotland
- Trikes and go-carts — Shaw Trust
- Homemade knitted garments — Shaw Trust
- Gaming machines — Shaw Trust
- Stair lifts — Shaw Trust
- CDs and DVDs (all, regardless of rating) — Shelter
- Books in poor condition — St Barnabas Hospice (Lincolnshire)
- Nursery equipment — St Christopher's Hospice
- Broken toys — St Christopher's Hospice
- Unusable kitchenware — St Christopher's Hospice
- Broken bric-a-brac — St Christopher's Hospice
- Hand-painted furniture — St Christopher's Hospice
- Oil lamps — St Giles Hospice
- Sharp items, including gardening tools — St Peter's Hospice
- Garden tools — St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP)
- Pram mattresses — Sue Ryder
- Children's shoes (except brand-new soft-soled pram shoes) — Sue Ryder
- Used Play-Doh/plasticine — Sue Ryder
- Toys for under-3s not sealed in original packaging — Sue Ryder
- Angora wool products — Sue Ryder
- Free promotional books/CDs/DVDs marked 'not for resale' — Sue Ryder
- CBD oil products — Sue Ryder
- Chinese lanterns — Sue Ryder
- Jewellery made from seeds or beans — Sue Ryder
- Motor vehicles or car parts — Sue Ryder
- Gas masks — Sue Ryder
- Used pierced earrings — Sue Ryder
- Grossly offensive and/or discriminatory material — Sue Ryder
- Software and hardware — The Children's Trust
- Curtain poles (unless new in packaging) — Trinity Hospice (Blackpool)
- Unboxed Christmas trees — Trinity Hospice (Blackpool)
- Child seats for cycles — Wales Air Ambulance
- Motor vehicles or car parts — Wales Air Ambulance
- Grossly offensive and/or discriminatory material — Wales Air Ambulance
- Coffee pods — Willen Hospice
- Christmas trees — Willen Hospice