Waste Not, Want Not: Where to Recycle, Donate, or Sell When You Leave Beijing

We often leave in a rush and in doing so throw out a lot of items that could be of use to others in the city. For that reason, we've compiled the best options to donate, sell, and recycle whether you're moving on to start the next chapter of your life or you just need a good spring clean.

Donate

Founded in 2008, Roundabout China is well-known among expats for its various charity projects. Roundabout sends collected funds and donations to those in need, including sick children and under-resourced orphanages. The social enterprise accepts a range of items for its store and projects, including gently-used clothing, toys, blankets, storage containers, and baby equipment. Roundabout keeps an updated list of currently-needed items on its website. They offer pick up services as well for bulky items you might want to donate. Apart from their warehouse and store in Shunyi, they also have bright and eye-catching drop boxes located at multiple places in the city for your convenience, should you not want to drive all the way to Shunyi. These wonderful new donation boxes are now out and about in Beijing, and you can drop off small donations in them. Here is an updated list of some locations along with their phone numbers. 

Roundabout Stores: 137 1805 3814, Riviera Club House: 8450 6888, Tuan Jie Hu community recycle station:139 1075 9629, CCAFC office: 5166 0112, OASIS Hospital: 5985 0405, Shine Hills: 6144 5671, BoYa School: 158 1128 6996, SCOUT Real Estate: 8596 8873,  BIBA: Staff only, Zarah Cafe: 8403 9807, Hua Jia Di Compuond: 136 8131 4094, DCB: 6454 9000/9068

Visit www.roundaboutchina.com to find out more.
 
Sell

In case you didn't know, we have an extremely active, user-friendly, and best of all, free, Classifieds section with categories like bikes, clothing, electronics, furniture, and more for you to peruse. Craigslist Beijing has never been very active, but a quick check showed a number of fairly recent “for sale” ads, many of them reposts from the Yahoo groups or expat publications. Though it probably won’t be necessary, it never hurts to post ads in more than one place.

Recycle

Founded in 2005, Freecycle Beijing is a Yahoo group that is open to all who want to ‘recycle’ that special something rather than throw it away. This group is part of The Freecycle Network, a nonprofit organization and a movement of people interested in promoting community involvement, reducing consumerism, and keeping viable items out of landfills. By following a few simple rules, members can post ads for things they no longer need and others will claim them for free. It currently has over 1,300 members. Membership is free.

Founded in July 2009 by Nathan Zhang, Brandnu is a social enterprise that works with migrant women, using second-hand clothes to create upcycled fashion. It is essentially a charity store which employs disadvantaged women. The shop accepts donations of clean, gently-used clothes. Call the donation hotline at 153 1300 8571 (Chinese only) to find out more.

This article was first published on our sister site beijingkids.

Photo courtesy of Roundabout