One element of the Granton Goes Greener Project is the clothing swap shop. The idea is that people donate clothes that are still in good condition but perhaps they’ve grown out of or that they’re bored of and swap them for something that is new to them. We are delighted to receive donations but want to discourage people from using the swap shop as an excuse to get rid of clothes that they otherwise would still happily wear. We don’t want people thinking ‘oh I’ve got to find something for the clothing swap!‘ but to think of it as the first place to take clothing that they genuinely wouldn’t wear any more. It’s fine if you don’t have anything to donate, even if you take something.
I took in a skirt that no longer fitted me and swapped it for this lovely jumper.
We weigh the items swapped to give us an idea of how much waste and carbon we’re saving in the project (this is a requirement of our funding from the Climate Challenge Fund). This jumper weights just over 300g (which works out as 0.005kg of CO2 saved if my maths is correct).
Today a group of volunteers from the Climate Change department of Scottish Government are in the church. One of the things they will be doing later in the day is to sort out some of the many bags of clothing that have been donated to our swap shop.
Next Tuesday at the Granton Community Gardeners community meal we will launch our new improved clothing swap shop. There will be three rails – one for women’s clothing, one for men’s and one for children’s with baby clothes on a table. So bring along some clothing to swap or find your next favourite new outfit!