All items · Sport & outdoor
Treadmills, exercise bikes and gym machines
Also covers: running machine, rowing machine, cross trainer, multigym, weights bench
It depends
5 say no, 3 will consider it. Evidence: 7 direct, 1 broad.
Why shops refuse it
Too heavy to handle, hard to test, and slow to sell — most shops refuse large fitness equipment.
What to do instead
Sell or give away locally with 'buyer collects', or book a council bulky-waste collection.
Charity by charity
-
Can't accept
Cornwall Hospice Care
Their wording
“Exercise bikes, treadmills and cross trainers”
-
Can't accept
DEBRA
Large, heavy, or rusted exercise equipment is excluded.
Their wording
“Large, heavy, or rusted exercise equipment”
-
Can't accept
Sue Ryder
Covers rowing machines, running machines, cross trainers.
Their wording
“exercise bikes, rowing machines, running machines, cross trainers”
-
Can't accept
Willen Hospice
broad category rule
Sports equipment generally not accepted, no specific items listed
Their wording
“Sports equipment”
-
Can't accept
Woodgreen Pets Charity
Their wording
“Gym equipment – due to health and safety risks”
-
Check first
Overgate Hospice
Gym equipment accepted at the shop's discretion.
Their wording
“Gym equipment (at our discretion)”
-
Check first
Princess Alice Hospice
Only accepted with instructions
Their wording
“Exercise equipment unless with instructions”
-
Check first
Scope
Fitness equipment only accepted at the Wakefield and Grimsby shops.
Their wording
“Fitness equipment.”
Not mentioned in 36 charities' guidance
Absence from a charity's list doesn't mean they accept it — it just isn't singled out. Ask your local shop.
- Not mentioned Acorns Children's Hospice
- Not mentioned Age UK
- Not mentioned Barnardo's
- Not mentioned British Heart Foundation
- Not mentioned British Red Cross
- Not mentioned Cancer Research UK
- Not mentioned Claire House Children's Hospice
- Not mentioned Crisis
- Not mentioned Dogs Trust
- Not mentioned Dorothy House
- Not mentioned Emmaus
- Not mentioned FARA Charity Shops
- Not mentioned Great Western Air Ambulance Charity
- Not mentioned Keech Hospice Care
- Not mentioned LOROS Hospice
- Not mentioned Marie Curie
- Not mentioned Octavia Foundation
- Not mentioned Oxfam
- Not mentioned PDSA
- Not mentioned Phyllis Tuckwell
- Not mentioned Salvation Army (SATCoL)
- Not mentioned Samaritans
- Not mentioned Save the Children
- Not mentioned Sense Scotland
- Not mentioned Shaw Trust
- Not mentioned Shelter
- Not mentioned St Barnabas Hospice (Lincolnshire)
- Not mentioned St Christopher's Hospice
- Not mentioned St Giles Hospice
- Not mentioned St Peter's Hospice
- Not mentioned St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP)
- Not mentioned The Children's Trust
- Not mentioned Traid
- Not mentioned Trinity Hospice (Blackpool)
- Not mentioned Wales Air Ambulance
- Not mentioned YMCA (England & Wales)