It’s Our World: JumbleAid in Christmas charity drive

Dec 21 2010 by Henryk Zientek, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

TWO leading businessmen are playing Santa – with a website that finds new homes for unwanted presents.

Entrepreneurs Simon Pailin and Carl Hopkins are urging consumers to do a good deed and recycle their unwanted Christmas gifts this year.

Their website – Jumbleaid.com – combines the ethos behind online recycling initiative Freecycle with the technology of eBay in a bid to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill while providing income for charities.

A survey by the British Video Association suggest that up to £1bn worth of gadgets could end up on the Christmas scrapheap.

The survey found that 31% of people who were given a gadget did not use them – with digital photo frames and organisers, breadmakers, foot spas, digital radios and yoghurt makers high on the “not wanted” list.

JumbleAID is asking people to think twice before binning a dud present – and raise valuable funds for charity instead.

The JumbleAID website is backed by Barnado’s, World Vision and the Prince’s Trust and is free to join and simple to use.

Users can post details about their unwanted item, pick a charity from more than 25,000 UK charities listed in the database and prospective buyers pledge a donation. The user chooses which pledge to accept.

Payments made by the “pledger” go directly into the Charities Trust Account, which adds GiftAid where applicable and distributes the funds – less transaction charges – to the selected charity.