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Q1 Upholstered furniture and fire Labels
Q1 Upholstered furniture and fire Labels
"CARELESSNESS CAUSES FIRE Batch/ID No DF 1234. To comply with The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations: this article does (or does not) include a Schedule 3 interliner ll foams, fillings and composites have been tested to ensure compliance with the relevant ignitability test. All covers and fillings have been tested to ensure that they are cigarette esistant. All covers have been tested to ensure ... etc"
Before we will arrange a collection visit, we need to know that any upholstered furniture has appropriate fire safety labels still attached. You may see other labels on furniture stating that 'Careless use of matches could set fire to this furniture'. This label generally indicates that the furniture was made before 1988 and does not meet current fire safety requirements. We are unable to accept furniture that was made after 1988 but has had the labels removed. Please don't ever remove these labels as it effectively renders the furniture unsaleable unless a seller wants to undertake lots of research and correspondence with the manufacturer! Similarly, items that have been re-upholstered / recovered that show no labels are also unsuitable for our purposes as it leaves the fire safety status uncertain. and we are not in a position to fully satisfy ourselves that they comply. The Association of Master Upholsterers have lobbied the Government to resolve this anomaly in the legislation, but so far to no avail. They have commented to us: "Not all furniture is reupholstered i.e. completely stripped of ALL old fillings and materials and totally reupholstered using ALL new materials that are compliant. When labels are applied they effectively warrant that the materials used are fully compliant and that the furniture is in effect, as far as the law is concerned, as new. If an upholsterer was to leave ANY original material in the furniture he would not be able to attach the labels." Back to top of page. Q2 Beds, Bed Bases & Fire Labels
Q3 Sofas, Suites and ArmchairsWe accept many types of suites and armchairs. They must all have fire labels (see Q1). They must be in good condition - some wear is acceptable but they must still be presentable/saleable. We prefer smaller suites - as a guide 2-seater sofas are usually fine but the current trend for large and deep 3-seater sofas means that many are simply too large to fit into many new flats and smaller properties (or indeed up their stairwells). Whilst the side profile of a suite is also important, if it is much over 6' wide it is almost certainly too big for us. Update: we have now stopped taking 3-seater sofas to allow us to concentrate on smaller suites and sofas - sorry if that seems an arbitrary decsion but we simply can't get them into many places which means we can't quickly place them. Q4 WardrobesWe are always in need of wardrobes. We accept most types, old-fashioned ones are still very useful and are usually well-made so do travel well. In general, if a wardrobe is around 3' wide that is fine, much wider than that and we prefer not to take them as they don't fit into smaller properties. We do not accept flat-packed disassembled furniture including wardrobes - we do not have the time and resources to re-assemble at the warehouse, and we cannot tell if bits are missing (which invariably there are). Many self-assembly wardrobes do not travel well: they are designed to be put together in situ and left there - we tend to only take them if they are sturdy enough to survive being moved. We do not accept fitted wardrobes as they are specific to a space or location. We may take wardrobe sets (such as 2 wardrobes separated by a dressing table unit) if they are usable as separate wardrobes. Q5 Chests of drawers, cabinets, wall & storage unitsAlmost all chests of drawers and bedside cabinets are fine (depending on condition). Smaller ones are better. Various storage units / cabinets / dressers and so on are also possibilities as long as they are not too large or tall. We have stopped taking almost all wall units and display cabinets as we can't find a viable market for them and they don't tend to be a priority item for those in receipt of our grants.
Q6 kitchen/Dining Tables & Chairs, Coffee and other tablesWe do take (smaller) kitchen and dining tables, with and without chairs. Seat pads on chairs need to have fire retardant labels (Q1). Surfaces on tables need to be reasonably good in order for them to sell. We concentrate on taking smaller table sets - a dining suite with 6 chairs is generally too big for us whereas 2-4 chair suite is normally OK. Gatefold / gateleg folding tables are often useful as they fit into smaller spaces and can be put up when needed. We take many types of coffee and other small occaisional tables. Q7 Sideboards, wall units, display units, dressing tables & other period itemsWe don't take sideboards or any of the above - wall units etc, and very rarely old-style dressing tables. Unfortunately we find there is no demand for them, and they occupy valuable space. The same goes for many other fine tems of period furniture - please understand that our primary aim is to supply basic items of utility furniture, and these items simply don't feature as requirements for most people. Very occasionally we do take some unusual items if they are part of a larger collection job, in the hope that we might be able to sell them to a member of the general public to raise money. We have in the past had some success at auctions, although not in recent years. Q8 Appliances and Electrical ItemsWe used to take in a range of electrical items and appliances to sell to our clients, but nowadays:
Therefore, we are currently only able to arrange collection visits for the following electrical items*:
These items are then tested (and often re-wired) by our volunteer electrician. If they pass his strict safety and functionality tests they are usually allocated as part of Central Aid Society grant cases and go directly to needy clients (sometimes a nominal charge is made). Each Fridge that fails our electrical and thermal tests would cost us around £25 to be dumped commercially, so please be honest with us about how well they work. *Although occaisionally our collection team may pick up small essential electrical items (such as kettles, lamps) as part of a larger job. We may also accept some small electrical items if brought in to the warehouse. Q9 Computers and TV'sWe no longer take computers or televisions: they have become too complicated for us to sell as we can't properly demonstrate them, we can't dispose of faulty monitors or TV's under our waste license, and for the present we prefer to concentrate on supplying essential items of furniture. If you have decent specification computers to donate, try Computer Aid or Computers for Charities (See also Q14.) Q10 Bathroom & Kitchen Units, Garden, Tools, Musical Instruments etcWe're sorry, we don't take bathroom or kitchen units, baths, sinks, garden furniture, tools + sewing machines + knitting machines (try Workaid in Amersham), pianos, other musical instruments, televisions, hi-fi's, bicycles, prams, pushchairs, car safety seats, and many other similar items. (See also Q14 and Q15.) Q11 Electric Beds and Electric Reclining ChairsIf you have an electric bed (a domestic or a medical-type) we suggest you contact MacMillan Nurses who are often able to use them for their clients: Tel: (01628) 480261 or Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it We are often happy to take working electric reclining chairs as long as they are in good condition, have fire labels (Q1) and are safe to move from their current location - they can be incredibly heavy due to the motors and often require three people to move them safely. Q12 Electric Wheelchairs, Wheelchairs, Mobility vehicles & mobility aidsWe do sometimes take electric wheelchairs and pavement vehicles. We can't sell those items directly as we are not able to undertake the extensive safety tests required, but we may be able collect them and pass them to clients through a local specialist mobility equipment supplier. Please contact us to discuss in each case. We can take a limited number of wheelchairs and other mobility aids as we do come across clients who need them. Another place to try if you have various specialist medical equipment is Red Cross Medical Loan on 01494 521512, details here:
Q13 Gas appliances, washing machinesUnfortunately, we have no gas connection or a volunteer CORGI engineer, so we are unable to accept gas appliances as we cannot test them. Similarly, as we have no mains water in the warehouse (we have to fill our kettle from the shared kitchen upstairs!) we cannot perform the wet electrical testing required to PAT test washing machines and do not therefore collect them. Q14 What can I do with items you won't / can't collect?Rather than dump them there are still several things you can try. You can try giving them away to friends and family, neighbours and work colleagues. You can sell them privately, try Bucks Free Press free classified ads or Ebay. Your local newsagent's window is also a good place to try.
The Association of Charity Shops have a very useful charity shop locator which you can use to find your local charity shops. Q15 Where can I find local recycling information?Try the Recycle for Buckinghamshire portal, also this page from Bucks County Council. Back to top of page. Q16 Are you registered with the Environment Agency as a Waste Carrier?
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 it is your responsibility to ensure that your items of household waste are only transferred to someone who is appropriately licensed by the Environment Agency. CEAC produces a good guide (mainly for small businesses) on this legislation. You can check commercial registrations here: http://www2.environment-agency.gov.uk/epr/search.asp?id=EP8&&type=register "Even if someone else is taking your household (includes DIY) waste away, you must check with the Environment Agency that they are legally authorised to take it. If your waste is dumped illegally and your haven't checked the carrier's credentials, you and the carrier could be fined up to £5,000." (from Bucks County Council's Illegal Dumping campaign).
Q17 Do you take office furniture?We may take a few office chairs (with fire labels), small desks, small computer workstations and filing cabinets. We can't handle large quantities of office furniture or large desk units. Try Recycled Business Furniture in High Wycombe, or look in the yellow pages for other companies that do second-hand office furniture. Back to top of page. Q18 Do you take carpets?Regrettably, not at this time. We do have clients that need carpet, as much accommodation is often allocated uncarpeted. But the logistics of checking, handling and displaying large rolls of carpet has led us to suspend collecting it until we can work out a better solution. (However, we do often collect small carpet rugs if we are already collecting other furniture from a property.) Back to top of page. Q19 Do you take bric-a-brac, clothing and bedding?We do not take any clothing. We may accept small amounts of bric-a-brac brought down to us at the warehouse but we wouldn't collect unless part of a larger furniture collection. We run a charity market stall every Friday morning outside our office in the town which sells bric-a-brac and collectibles. At the warehouse we do sell a limited amount of basic kitchen and dining ware (complete sets preferred over individual items), and clean laundered bedding (sheets, blankets, pillowcases, duvet covers etc). STOP PRESS 15/9/09: We have stopped taking bedding as we now have more than we can handle and cannot store large quantities. Back to top of page.
Q20 Can I leave items for you outside the warehouse?Absolutely not! There are clear notices to this effect outside the warehouse. On arrival at work we are often faced with items we cannot use and have to dump, weather-damaged sofas and water-soaked appliances left out overnight. We have a CCTV camera above our entrance and will report anyone caught leaving items without having sought explicit prior permission from us to the local Council as fly tipping. Illegal dumping costs ! Back to top of page. Q21. Do you take electrical fires/heaters?Yes, we do take small portable electric heaters as long as they are the modern convection type. We don't take the old-fashioned electric bar heaters as so many of them fail our electrical safety tests. (We're not keen on the latter anyway as children can poke their fingers through the bars on many of them.) As for most electrical items we look at, they should preferably be 3-5 years old. We normally try and stockpile them for the winter as we get lots of calls to deliver them to pensioners when the temperature drops. Q22. Do you take Sofabeds / Futons?Yes, depending on what space we have, we do take sofabeds. They must have fire labels as per Q1 and Q2 above. Due to the number of broken and unsafe metal-framed sofabeds we are offered we now need to check each one in situ when we collect it. Please ensure that there is sufficient space to unfold the bed so our collection team can check it. We do take the occaisional futon, but we do find them difficult to sell and almost impossible to give as part of a grant as most people want a conventional divan / frame bed. Therefore, if we already have one in stock we generally don't collect another one until we have moved that one on.
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All upholstered furniture manufactured after 1950 must have a manufacturers label permanently attached which shows compliance with the The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988. This means all sofas, armchairs, pouffes and so on. 
Mattresses, bed bases and divans are not required to be fire safety labelled in the same way as upholstered furniture (
Furniture Donation FAQ's
