We have temporarily closed all our high street shops to protect the safety of our staff, volunteers and shoppers.
Our online shop will stay open, but with a more limited range of items to buy
We’re unable to accept donations of any items for the time being, so please don’t leave anything outside shops or in donation banks
Please hold onto items you wish to donate for now. Once it’s safe to do so, we’d love to receive them
As COVID-19 escalates, we are helping people worldwide minimise the risk of the coronavirus infection by providing them with accurate information and advice in local languages. Our teams are delivering clean water, handwashing facilities and soap to those most at risk. Donate now to support Oxfam’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU
If you have any messages for our staff or volunteers or want to talk about any aspect of Oxfam’s work (or get involved), we are here 9am-5pm UK time Monday to Friday and would love to hear from you.
Each year in the UK we use a shocking 1.2 billion metres of cling film, a product which is very hard to recycle. Beeswax wraps have paved the way for a sustainable alternative, not only are they biodegradable and compostable but the colourful designs are beautiful too.
At Oxfam we stock the wonderful The Beeswax Wrap co, online and in our stores too. Their wraps are handmade using organic GOTS certified cotton, pine resin, organic jojoba oil and locally sourced UK beeswax.
What are the benefits of using them?
100% natural – so no chance of any nasties seeping in to your food.
Reusable – just clean with a little bit of soap and cold water after each use and then use them again! Give them a refresh every 2-3 months to extend their life – more info below on how to do this.
Biodegradable and compostable – once your wrap starts to lose its life you can put it in with your compost or twist it up and use it as a firelighter – cool huh?
Keeps food fresh – the combination of natural ingredients and organic cotton fabric allows the wraps to breathe, meaning your food stays fresh for longer. This extends the life of a loaf of bread by about 3-4 days and your sandwiches won’t be limp and lacklustre come lunch time.
Clingy – pine resin acts as a natural adhesive and the warmth from your hands helps mould the wraps to give a strong seal.
How to clean beeswax wraps
All you have to do is use a splash of gentle washing up liquid and a bit of cool water and voila! They’re ready to go again.
Refreshing your beeswax wrap – electric oven method
To keep your wraps fresh and sticky it’s best to refresh them every few months. Please note this method is only for electric ovens not gas ovens – if you have a gas oven please follow the Iron Refresh Method below.
Refreshing your beeswax wrap – iron method
This method is quick and easy, and perfect for refreshing wraps too big to fit on a tray in your oven, or if you don’t have an electric oven.
If you’re now converted and want to get your hands on some stunning beeswax wraps, click the link below or visit your local Oxfam shop.
Sustainability Looks Good on You, 2020!
7 easy life hacks to do your bit (and save a buck along the way).
Bored of the old ‘new year, new me’ promises? Leave the faddy New Year’s resolutions in 2019 and kick off the ’20s with a sustainable pledge that’ll serve you (and your planet) well for the coming decade and beyond.
1. Second Hand Samaritan
Want to beat the post-Christmas blues with a bit of retail therapy? Understandable. Purse strings feeling the tightness of the December splurge? Of course. Instead of fighting your way though the winter sales this year, why not visit your local charity shop where there are better-than-sale prices all year round? Not only will you be saving yourself some money and giving someone’s unwanted item a new life – you’ll be helping a good cause. It’s a win-win-win!
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, turning a damaged and unusable item into something beautiful and unique. Whilst we’re not suggesting you get your soldering iron and protective goggles out just yet, maybe you can apply this mentally to some of the items lying around the house that have seen better days. Can you patch those jeans instead of buying a new pair? Would a bit of super glue do wonders on that wobbly photo frame? Avoid creating unnecessary waste and see if you can fix it before throwing it!
3. Don’t need it? Donate!
Maybe you were lucky enough to get some gifts over the Christmas period and that has left you with a few extra items. Or perhaps you’re planning a premature spring clean and want to declutter a few of those cupboards. Either way, let your disused things be someone else’s treasure and donate to your local Oxfam store rather than throwing them away.
The biggest retailers sold 549 million plastic bags in the year 2018-2019, down from 1 billion bags the year before. A huge improvement – but still 549 million bags to go. Be instrumental in that figure dropping even further and purchase one of our reusable totes here to haul your baggage in style.
5. Long Shot Grande Salted Caramel Skinny Latte With 2 Pumps of Vanilla to Go, Please
Estimated figures state that 2,700,000 coffee cups are thrown away every day. The mix of plastic in their composition means that they can’t be recycled so they end up in landfills, where they will take hundreds of years to break down. By taking one of our reusable bamboo coffee cups into your favourite coffee shop and asking them to fill that instead (something that they are happy to do), that’s one less coffee cup in the bin. Do it every time you buy and you’re really helping to make a difference. And take a look at the different designs – you’re going to look very cute whilst doing it.
Instead of buying expensive meal deals clad in superfluous packaging, 2020 can be the year that you vow to start bringing a packed lunch from home instead. This is the tip that keeps giving: you will save panic buying that £5 soggy sandwich; you’ll have more time to relax and recalibrate during your lunch break rather than battling the busy midday queues; you can have a better handle on healthy eating and fueling your body in the right way, and of course it’s planet friendly You can ensure that the waste that you are responsible for is decreased significantly by using a lunch box every day rather than throwing away that pasta salad’s pesky plastic pot. And if that wasn’t enough – pick up a lunch box from our sustainable range and you’ll be helping to beat poverty, too.
7. That’s a Wrap
Finally, it’s time to ditch the cling film. Plastic wrap is pretty annoying – it sticks together and tears in all the wrong places. And when you realise that it is pure plastic waste and totally unnecessary to boot, I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s time to say, “See ya later.” Instead, you can try an environmentally friendly alternative – beeswax wrap. It can be used to wrap or cover food, rinsed under the tap and reused, lasting on average for around a year. Once you’re finished with it, it can be stripped up and used for compost as it is biodegradable. Leave the cling film in 2019 and wrap your way into a brighter, more sustainable decade.
Let’s start 2020 with a cold dose of harsh reality: you didn’t stick to last year’s resolutions, did you? So what’s different this year? This year, you’ve got Oxfam on your side – helping you to fulfil all your goals and fight poverty at the same time.
Here are 7 classic resolutions that, in 2021, you’ll be able to look back on with pride:
1. Get fit
One in three people reading this will have resolved to exercise more in the next year. And let’s face it – we could all benefit from a gentle jog, couldn’t we?
You don’t have to break out the placards and march the streets to make change happen. You don’t even have to brave the comments section on your least favourite news site.
Oxfam campaigners include petition-signers, letter-writers, Facebook-likers, poster-paperers, conversation-starters, festival-goers and noise-makers of all stripes. In 2020 Oxfam will be sharing more ways to change the world and help beat poverty for good – get on Oxfam’s mailing list to be the first to find out how you can help.
3. Reduce your carbon footprint… in the January sales
What’s that? You can satisfy your resolution to look after the planet and its inhabitants while hitting the high street and bagging some bargains?
You don’t have to wait till the holidays are over – or even leave the house – because Oxfam’s Online Shop offers more than 100,000 ethically sourced and pre-loved items, 24/7, right from the comfort of that squashy armchair you’ve been occupying since Christmas Eve.
When you choose second hand items from Oxfam, you’re giving some great finds a longer life AND supporting the poorest people around the world, hit hardest by climate change.
4. Give time to a good cause
You don’t need to be a retail magnate to help out in an Oxfam shop. Getting involved can mean so many different things: dressing windows, working behind the till, sorting donations, organising pop up shop events or even posting on social media. Whatever you do, as an Oxfam shop volunteer you’ll be making life-saving work possible.
And if you’re not at home on the High Street, how about free entry to a festival, cheering along superheroes at a race event, or supporting our incredible Trailwalkers?
5. Find your niche
So you’ve decided to spend some time in 2020 fundraising for Oxfam. Deciding how you’ll do it – in your own wonderful, unique way – is where the fun begins.
From cake sales to abseils, crafternoons to quiz nights – doing something fun, wild or lucrative can help raise vital funds to help people beat poverty around the world.
Maybe you’ll start the next ice bucket challenge and go viral. Maybe you’ll discover you’re destined to be the next Bake Off winner. Or maybe you’ll ride round a school hall on a trike, trailing a sad balloon. Whatever you do – as long as it’s legal – we’ll love you for it.
6. Learn an instrument (or two)
Fancy performing on the same bill as the likes of Everything Everything, Annie Mac, Four Tet, Foals, Dan Le Sac VS Scroobius Pip, and Get Cape Wear Cape Fly?
They’re all Oxjam alumni, along with more than 60,000 other musicians who, since Oxjam began, have played to an audience of 1.5 million people and raised well over £2.8 million to beat poverty. No pressure. Just get practising!
7. Bonus: Give money to a good cause
In 2020 the battle against the devastating effects of climate change will be bigger and more urgent than ever before. For years Oxfam has been working alongside the world’s poorest communities to help them face the climate crisis head-on.
This Christmas and new year we’re asking you to help provide families with everything they need to fight against climate change.
Whatever your resolutions, we wish you the most wonderful 2020. See you on the other side!
Can you really update your wardrobe for autumn using only second hand clothes? Judging by these brilliant buys that were #FoundInOxfam, it looks like the answer is YES
When there’s a new season approaching, it can be tempting to refill your wardrobe with a rail ofbrandnew clothes. But if you want to be a little more eco this autumn, it’s entirely possible to update your look the second hand way, as these gems#FoundInOxfamprove.
You can’t beat a great designer find,and you don’t get much better than these strikingGivenchy boots, no doubt snapped up fast from @oxfamwestbournegrove
Second handstyleexpert Carolinealways knows how to finish off an outfit – and her on-trendankle boots, trench coat, belt and blingwere all #FoundInOxfam
A big fan of charity shopping, Jac knows a second handgem when she sees one. Thispretty pinkjumper is perfect with skinny jeans, spotted inOxfam Brighton for £6.99.
After something a little more dapper than jeans and a jumper? Oxfam also stocks loads of great shirts, suits and accessories, like this smart jacket and tie shared by@oxfam_epsom.
Designer Theodora says she’swanted an oatmeal tweed coat “since seeing Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes”. Thankfully, her local @oxfamgbshop came up trumps.
Proof that knitwear doesn’t need to be boring – this jumper’s a great way to add a touch of the wild west to your wardrobe, whilst staying warm. Anotherfab@oxfamgb find for £5.99.
Whether you bagged tickets to Worthy Farm or watched from the comfort of your living room – Glastonbury is one of the biggest moments of the summer. And where thousands of people pledged to help people and planet.
Glastonbury 2019 was a scorcher. And whilst it was fun in the sun – the soaring temperatures were a stark reminder of why this world-famous festival had put a huge emphasis on sustainability. And why we took our Second Hand September campaign to Worthy Farm.
We’re facing a climate emergency. Yet the global textile industry that make and produce our clothes is proving more polluting than aviation and shipping combined – creating 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Saying no to new clothes for 30 days is just one, easy way to be more planet-friendly and help reduce your carbon footprint. So our amazing campaigners were out in force meeting fun-loving festival-goers, thousands of you joined Second hand September and our festival shops were buzzing with second hand steals.
Together we’re bringing down the demand for new by reusing, rewearing and recycling clothes. And that’s amazing.
