Join us on Saturday 1st February at St Marys Acton Church, next to Acton Market for the Reduce and Recycle hub, inside this beautiful church. Pop along on 1st February from 11.30 to 3 pm where we will have a free School Uniform Swap for parents to find uniform items for their children. Plus all the other great activities such as book swap, clothes collection and Ealing Clothes repair cafe and much more.
St Mary’s Church is at the heart of Acton town on The Mount, High Street, Acton, W3 9NW. Come inside and admire its beautiful architecture and join in the hubs activities to help reduce our waste and recycle more.
Ealing Council funds the our hub until March 2025. It was initially set up by Action West London with a Lottery grant from the Climate Action fund in 2021. The hub runs monthly on the first Saturday of the month. For full list of dates see Reduce and Recycle events.
February School Uniform Swap
The Reduce and Recycle Hub and ReActon is having a pre-loved free School Uniform Swap. At our swaps, you can either give donations, take donations or both. It is all about getting everyone to wear their clothes for longer.
The uniform swap is free. It will take place on Saturday 1st February from 12 am to 3pm at the Reduce and Recycle Hub inside St Mary’s Church Acton.
On the day you can choose up to 3 essential school items to take home for free per child. This is to make sure there’s enough available for everyone to take some uniform. If you have unwanted hand-me-down quality washed and laundered items drop them off to us on the day.
We will only accept the following items:
- Primary and secondary school unbranded uniform items and sportswear, including footwear and school bags.
- Items that are hand-me-down quality clean and washed.
Free draught excluders to keep the heat inside your home
Ealing Repair cafe will also be providing materials for anyone who wants to make a free draught excluder. If you get there earlier, there could be a ready made draught excluder to take away for free. Draught excluders are great for keeping the warm in and heating bills low. The team will be helping anyone who wants to come along and make one.
If you have some old pillows or towels bring them along to use them as stuffing to create your own draught excluder. Or go to their website for the instructions to make your own draught excluder. See Ealing Repair cafe for inspiration and guides on this and other Textile Upcycling Projects.

Donate Unopened long-life Food to Ealing Food Bank
We will be taking donations to Ealing Foodbank at St Mary’s. If you have left over unopened food that you want to pass onto a good cause, drop donations at the hub to support Ealing Foodbank in their ambition of anyone in our community should not go hungry. Ealing Foodbank provide nutritionally balanced emergency food every week and support local people who are referred to them in crisis. Acton was their first client centre which opened in October 2013 and now have grown to 8 foodbank centres around the borough of Ealing.
Check the Ealing Foodbank latest shopping list and drop off items at St Mary’s Acton Church. The Church always has a donation box so you can donate to them all year round, when the church is open.
February Reduce and Recycle Hub


At our Reduce and Recycle hub on Saturday 1st February at St Marys Acton we have our popular organisations, helping to reduce our waste. We are open from 11.30 to 3 pm. All these great organisations will help you recycle, as well as repair and reuse in Acton and beyond.
RECYCLE:
Bring along and recycle:
- Clothing, Shoes and accessories (10am – 2pm) Donations for TRAID charity www.traid.org.uk/wlwa
- School Uniform by joining our February School uniform swap – details above
- Small electrical appliances (10am – 2pm). These must be small –small enough to fit in a shopping bag to TRAID, see details www.traid.org.uk
- Ealing Waste Team collecting for Terracycle These can also be dropped off to Greenford Reuse and Recycling Centre Terracycle collections:
- Biscuits and Snacks wrappers. All brands of plastic biscuit wrappers, all brands of plastic cake wrappers and all brands of plastic cracker wrappers (Not included is paper or foil wrappers which can be recycled in Ealing doorstep recycling collection)
- Pringle Tubes with the metal bases only
- Coffee bean and ground coffee pouches and sachets. Not included is coffee capsules, coffee grounds. Any cardboard packaging can be recycled in Ealing doorstep recycling collection.
- Bulk bags of tea bags and loose leaf tea packs. Cardboard packaging can be recycled in Ealing doorstep collection and teabags in food waste doorstep collection. Not included is individual tea bag sachets.
- Plastic toothbrushes and electric toothbrush heads. Plus electric flosser nozzles, flossing sticks and interdental brushes and dental floss containers. (Not collecting battery or electric toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, dental floss.)
Ealing Council Waste team will also be there giving advice on the doorstep recycling and food waste collection. Find more tips and information here https://www.instagram.com/ealingrecycles/
REPAIR:
- Learn to fix your Clothes and textiles with Ealing Repair Café www.ealingrepaircafe.org


REUSE:
- Book Swap: Bring a book and take a book, with Churchfield Community Association
Pushing for Change
- Ealing Friends of the Earth: Keep up to date with the local issues and campaigns around air pollution, climate change, nature and biodiversity.
Pop along to the Reduce and Recycle hub and join the growing community of people who are helping Acton reduce, reuse and recycle more. For more information and links to all the great organisations involved in Reduce and Recycle hub.
Reduce and Recycle Hub Achievements
Since October 2022 at the Reduce and Recycle hub, we have:
- Saved 693kg of unwanted clothes and shoes from going to landfill
- Collected 223.1kgs of small electrical items for recycling
- Reduced carbon emissions (CO2) by 6.2 tonnes
- Helped save 1117.73 m3 of Water
- Taught clothes repair, upcycling and yarn making
- Resharpened kitchen and garden tools
- Helped rehome over 300 fiction & non fiction booksSee our Reduce and Recycle Hub 2023 review and so far we have achieved:
Interested in being part of the Reduce and Recycle hub
- Are you part of an organisation, community group or as a trader interested in getting involved with the Reduce and Recycle hub?
- Or you can offer some time as a volunteer to help run some of the activities?
Please email our Reduce and Recycle hub manager, Mary Horesh at mary.horesh@actionwestlondon.org.uk.
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