Give us the things you no longer need, buy something good second hand, or help out behind the counter. The Trust runs charity shops in Craignure and Bunessan all year, and a summer shop in Aros Hall, Tobermory. Everything raised goes back into work in Mull and Iona.
Where the shops are
- Craignure – Monday to Saturday, 10am to 4.30pm. There is a small green donations shed for anything you drop off after hours.
- Bunessan – Monday to Saturday, 10.30am to 4.30pm. The shop also takes textiles and household batteries for recycling.
- Tobermory – Aros Hall, Main Street, Tobermory, Isle of Mull, PA75 6NU. Summer months only.
TO CONFIRM: The hours above are the ones still published on the old front page, where Tobermory is shown as closed because of COVID-19. They are almost certainly out of date. Confirm all three, and get street addresses for Craignure and Bunessan, which the old site never gave.
TO CONFIRM: Does the summer shop in Aros Hall still run, and which months does it open?
Donating goods
Please check this list before you bring things in. It applies to all three shops.
| Category | Yes please | Sorry, no |
|---|---|---|
| Textiles | Clean rags. Clothing for women, men and children. Shoes in good condition. Bags, belts, hats, scarves, jewellery. Bedding, curtains, towels, rugs | Dirty clothes. Paint or oil stained clothes. Wet clothes. Dirty or stained duvets and pillows |
| Toys and baby equipment | Complete games and jigsaws. Clean soft toys. Baby baths, stair gates, fireguards | Broken, dirty or incomplete toys. Crash helmets. Broken or faulty equipment. No car seats |
| Mobile phones, spectacles, ink cartridges | Mobile phones, ink cartridges, spectacles | |
| Bric a brac | Collectable items and good quality homeware, such as crockery, glassware and cookware | Broken or chipped items |
| Media | Books, CDs, DVDs | Videos |
| Electrical goods | Clean and in full working order. Ask for a van uplift if you need one | Microwaves, video players, computer screens and towers |
| Furniture | Items in good condition. Ask for a collection | Upholstered items with no label showing they meet UK safety standards |
If you are not sure whether we can take something, call 01680 812908 and we will tell you.
Furniture and large items
Ask for a collection and the van will come to you. The driver can refuse anything too worn or damaged to sell. Upholstered furniture needs a label attached showing it meets UK safety standards.
We can uplift and dispose of furniture that is not suitable for sale for £15 per item.
Please do not leave items at the polytunnel without checking at the shop first.
There is also a white goods uplift service for broken appliances.
TO CONFIRM: The old site says white goods are uplifted “at reasonable rates” but gives no price. What does this cost?
Gift Aid on the things you donate
If you pay UK tax, you can sign up as a Gift Aid donor. We can then claim an extra 25% from HMRC on the goods of yours that we sell, at no cost to you.
Call into Craignure or Bunessan with your donations to sign up and pick up a reuse and recycle jute bag. If you signed up before, bring your donor card along and swap it for a new credit card sized one.
TO CONFIRM: The old Gift Aid page calls this a “new” system and offers a free jute bag. Is the bag offer still running?
Buying from the shops
The Craignure shop was the first reuse business in Mull and Iona to gain Revolve accreditation, the national reuse quality standard run by Zero Waste Scotland. Revolve exists to give shoppers confidence in second hand goods by setting standards for how reuse shops are run.
A Zero Waste Scotland report found that more than 70% of people believe buying reused goods offers good value and often costs less than buying new.
Volunteering
Volunteers help to keep the shops running.
TO CONFIRM: The old volunteering page had no content. We need a short description of what volunteers do, how many hours, who to contact and how to apply.
Recycling around Mull and Iona
Recycling points around the islands take textiles, plastic bottles, cans, glass, paper and cardboard, household batteries, vehicle batteries, household electrical items and used engine oil.
| Site | Textiles | Plastic bottles | Cans | Glass | Paper and card | Household batteries | Vehicle batteries | Household electricals | Used engine oil |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iona Pierhead | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Fionnphort car park | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
| Bunessan charity shop | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Bunessan Pierhead | Yes | ||||||||
| Craignure lorry car park | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
| Salen Morven View | Yes | ||||||||
| Dervaig Calgary Road | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
| Tobermory Baliscate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
| Tobermory Glengorm civic amenity site | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
TO CONFIRM: The old table lists Bunessan Community Hall as a site but shows no materials against it. Is it still a recycling point, and what does it take?
What to do with each material
Textiles. Old clothes, shoes, blankets, bedding and towels go to the Craignure or Bunessan shops, or into the textile banks at Craignure, the Fionnphort car park, and Baliscate and Glengorm in Tobermory. Everything must be clean and dry, with no oil, paint or mud. Mull Building Supplies takes textiles to the charity Blythswood in Oban, where they are sorted and reused as rags or used in charitable projects abroad.
Plastic. Trays, bottles, pots, cartons and lids go in your recycling bags and bin, or to the points at Craignure, Fionnphort, Baliscate and Glengorm. Wash food containers well, remove cling film and plastic film from trays, and take the trigger spray off cleaning bottles. Plastics are squashed and baled at Glengorm and sent to the mainland for sorting. A dirty item can contaminate a whole bale, which then goes to landfill at the Council’s cost. For ideas on using less plastic in the first place, see www.lessplastic.co.uk.
Tetra Pak cartons. Rinse them, flatten them and put them in with the plastics. Cartons are pulped, and the fibre becomes new paper products while the aluminium and polyethylene are used in furniture or separated out. More at www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk. They also make good material for craft projects, such as a Tetra Pak wallet.
Tins and cans. Cans, tins, metal lids from bottles and jars, biscuit and sweet tins and empty aerosols all go in your recycling bags or to the island recycling points. Wash them first. Kitchen foil and foil trays cannot be recycled at the moment. Steel and aluminium can be reprocessed again and again without losing quality, and recycling one tonne of aluminium saves nine tonnes of CO2 emissions. More at www.everycancounts.co.uk.
Glass. Glass from your glass bin and from Craignure, Baliscate, Glengorm and Fionnphort is gathered at Glengorm and sent to a processing plant in Helensburgh. Glass can be recycled endlessly with no loss of quality, and melting recycled glass takes far less energy than making new bottles and jars from raw materials.
Paper and card. Paper and card from your recycling bin and from Craignure, Glengorm and Fionnphort is baled at Glengorm and sent to a plant near Glasgow. Keep it free of food and general waste, or the bale can be rejected and sent to landfill. There is a short video showing what happens next.
Household batteries. Bring them to the charity shops in Bunessan or Craignure. Batteries are gathered at Glengorm, then taken away for processing, where the lead, acid and plastic are removed and recycled. Rechargeable batteries and wind up or solar powered gadgets cut the problem at source.
Vehicle batteries, household electricals and used engine oil. Car batteries and household electrical items go to the Glengorm civic amenity site. Used engine oil can go to Glengorm or to Bunessan Pierhead.
TO CONFIRM: There was a reusable nappy scheme page on the old site with no content on it. Does the scheme still exist, and should it appear here?
Collections and the Eco-Charter for businesses
We collect cans and plastic bottles from local businesses, which fills the gap left by the Council collections for glass, paper and cardboard.
- Collections are weekly or fortnightly, and can be less frequent over the winter.
- We provide a 240 litre wheelie bin for plastics and another for cans.
- You pay for each bin collection, and nothing else.
It cuts what your business sends to landfill, improves its green credentials and supports a local social enterprise.
The Mull and Iona Eco-Charter recognises local businesses taking an ecological approach to what they do. It was set up with Mull and Iona Chamber of Commerce. If you recycle cardboard, cans and bottles, use low energy bulbs, compost your food waste and buy recycled products, you are most of the way to signing up. The subscription is £12 a year, which covers administration, with any surplus going back into the work. You can view the Eco-Charter certificate.
TO CONFIRM: What does a bin collection cost? Is the Eco-Charter still running, and is the subscription still £12 a year?
TO CONFIRM: The Eco-Charter certificate link points at an old /mess/ address on the current site. Check it still resolves before import, or supply a new file.
Where the money goes
The shops are one of the Trust’s main sources of earned income. As a social enterprise, we aim to earn at least half of what we spend rather than rely on grants, and shop income helps to cover the running costs behind projects across the islands.
Money from the shops also backs small grants to community groups in Mull and Iona, with a preference for groups that promote recycling. See funding and grants.
Contact
Mull and Iona Community Trust An Roth Community Enterprise Centre Craignure Isle of Mull PA65 6AY
Shop queries: 01680 812908 Office: 01680 812900 enquiries@mict.co.uk
TO CONFIRM: Who should be named as the contact for the shops on the service card?