Unwanted goods? Upcycle them! Arcadia donates hundreds of goods to Save the World Club

Donate, don’t dump!

Arcadia is a leading member of the British Promotional Merchandise Association and became an annual subscriber to A Good Thing to reduce company wastage, creating sustainable merchandise for the future. The company has a history of generous donations with us! Read more about its donation of 5,000 items to Crisis, a homelessness support charity, here.

In December 2024, Arcadia decided to clear out its warehouse in Hounslow, West London, donating thousands of goods that spanned over five pallets! Wanting to make an impact, the firm selected one charity for their large donation…

A circular economy

Save the World Club is a community-based circular economy hub based in Kingston upon Thames. It rescues goods and food from landfill for redistribution, reuse, repair or upcycling into creative projects. Its volunteers collect and save fresh surplus food from local retailers and redistribute it across local vulnerable communities. The charity also organises the eco-friendly use of spaces for community activities such as workshops, craft events, meetings, goods-sorting for various causes, and even once as a film set!

Most of Save the World Club’s donations come from local families who drop items off as an alternative to the ‘dump’. Its ethos is to ‘approach local humanitarian issues with the environment at the forefront’.

Thanks to Arcadia, Save the World received a massive donation of 92 umbrellas, 130 flash drives, 150 baseball hats, almost 100 beanies, 219 power towers, 443 hand sanitisers, 98 leather luggage tags, 49 leather folders, 135 notebooks, 46 pens, 35 coolbags, and 1,050 balloons – and that’s not even everything!

Des Kay, who founded Save the World club in 1985, summarised the charity’s growing work across Kingston:

"Every Christmas we distribute at least 50 hampers of food and gifts to the many refugees and impoverished people in the Borough and [were] delighted to include these goods as gifts to these clients. We also distribute food to three churches outside our immediate area twice a week, and serve our local community, giving food to the local estates, hostels for teenagers, the Korean elderly, two local community cafes and and the many individuals who come and collect directly from our warehouse once a week. We made use of these donations to pack 50 hampers for our refugee clients and others in financial hardship – and for some of our charity partners."

Save the World distributes at least 50 Christmas hampers per year, created from donations stored year-round. Des Kay repurposed much of Arcadia’s December donation into Christmas hampers for the community.

Christmas hampers

“Father Christmas and his trusty little helpers put together 50 Christmas hampers to deliver to those that need a bit of help and support this Christmas. They were particularly grateful, as (because of these extra goodies) we were able to include some extra-special items. Thanks to A Good Thing and Arcadia for these pallets of merchandise gifts. Many thanks for your support.”

Join the movement

Des believes that every business should donate through A Good Thing as ‘an easy way to keep unwanted goods in circulation’.

If you’re a business with unwanted goods clogging things up, join A Good Thing! It takes 30 seconds to sign up, and we even offer a free membership. And check out your local charity needs – who knows, something might be needed nearby that you already have gathering dust and could donate…