2023 Lil ReUse Festival

Join us for the Lil ReUse Festival and Second-hand Market on Saturday November 18, 10am - 2pm at Haddington’s Knox Academy (Pencaitland Rd).

Help us make Second-hand the first choice for everyone.

Here’s your go-to lowdown. Buying, donating, selling, stall holders, volunteers, how to buy without the kids seeing, we’ve got you covered.

Zero Waste Scotland sums it up:

Around four-fifths of Scotland’s footprint comes from the products and materials we manufacture, use, and throw away. In fact, the average Scot consumes 18.4 tonnes of materials every year – that’s the equivalent of 50kg per week on average.

50kgs a week! That’s about a chimpanzee, or a North Pacific Giant Octopus. And by making Second-hand our first choice, we can cut that drastically.

But, we are saddened every time we hear someone say lack of funds meant they “had to buy second-hand” or they are ashamed of their second-hand mismatches. Second-hand needs to be our first choice if we are to cut our waste and keep every useable item in circulation for as long as possible.

Second-hand stuff always has a story, saves the world and your pennies. We adore our second-hand treasure. It means another family wasn’t exploited, or had to go without for us to get ‘new’ stuff. Second-hand means we get to boast about our community’s wealth in sharing. It means we don’t have to be ashamed of how much we waste, it means we apologise when we “have to” buy new.

Coming to buy?

Hooray! Thank you for doing your Lil thing for the planet. Here’s a few tips:

• Doors will open at 10am.

• Remember your shopping bags. Items will be priced per bag. A big bag like an Ikea blue bag is £20; a large shopper £15, regular tote £10.

• Items can be set aside for collection later. Voucher payment is all that will be accepted on the day ( but you can buy vouchers at the venue.)

• If you need a surprise set aside discreetly just let a Lil volunteer know 😉 Have you seen our Second-hand Santa letters??

No Cash, just vouchers

Everyone at the ReUse Festival will be ‘paying’ with vouchers. You can buy vouchers by donation online to Lil, or pay cash in person at the Lil Hub, 10 High St Haddington, EH41 3ES or on the day. If buying vouchers stretches your budget too far please contact us or our referral partners. We want everyone to be able to make second-hand their first choice.

Purchased vouchers that are unused can be refunded. Gifted vouchers can’t be refunded for cash,

Want to donate your Secondhand stuff?

Thank you! You can donate your good quality used items to Lil and we will sell them (and utilise the funds for this and more reuse projects)

How do we donate?

Items can be taken to the to Lil Lorry at Knox Academy, Pencaitland Rd, Haddington. See our socials for times this will be staffed.

What do you want donated?

• children’s clothes and footwear (no drawstrings that go all the way around necks or tummies)

• baby stuff

• adult clothes & footwear

• toys (Please check the CE labels still attached)

• bikes

• gardening equipment/ produce/seeds/plants

• tools (no electrical , sorry)

• Homewares and kitchen equipment

• soft furnishings (curtains & cushions, throws etc, as long as fire labels still on any cushions with fillings)

• Sports kit

• Storage jars, food caddies

We don’t want (sorry):

• electrical items

• large furniture

• earrings

• car seats

  if you need a home for such things Zero Waste Dunbar now known as ReUse Scotland may be able to help
  
  

Gah, It’s Saturday, I have the kids in tow!?

AWESOME. We’ve got kids activities lined up for a family friendly day. Come see us if you need to set something aside for a surprise. We’ll have refreshments available too.

I’m a reuse/ waste tackling organisation, Can I have a whole table?

We have some tables set aside for other ReUse and waste-reducing organisations. We’ll try to update as we confirm partners attending, and check out our social pages @dolilthings for more too. If you’d like your organisation to be there please email us.

Can I Help?

Oh yes you can! Volunteers make things happen at Lil so we are always delighted to have you join the team. We need extra hands both before the event and on the day. Pop in to the Hub, email us at hello.lilthings@gmail.com or give Lou a call/Whatsapp on 07538031226. Thank you 😊

WHY VOUCHERS?

We sell via vouchers to people that can afford it, and gifting to those in need, so everyone uses vouchers on the day. The only distinguishing elements to the vouchers are that people who have bought vouchers can be refunded; referrals can’t exchange for cash.  Whether vouchers have been given or bought is a question on our evaluation sheets so we can share the impact with you and funders. We don’t want any perception of stigma or embarrassment, we’re all in this together!

We also don't want to devalue secondhand by making it all free, and the paid-for vouchers helps cover costs of the event for Lil too. Any leftover is put towards sustainability projects in our community.

“Loved the event. Saved me £100s.” At our event in November 2022 in Haddington, we know people who said they received vouchers on their evaluation took home a total 474kg of stuff. We’re of course delighted environmentally, but the cost of living boon to that is awesome.