New year, clear space: a room-by-room decluttering guide
Start 2026 with less clutter and more purpose. Our practical room-by-room guide helps you declutter and donate items to charity bins near you.
Melbourne Charity Bins, Op Shops & Donation Locations
543 donation locations from 8 charities. Find the closest bin to donate clothes, books, and household items.
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Melbourne doesn't just do coffee and laneway art well, it's also the spiritual home of the Australian op shop. The first opportunity shops opened here back in 1925, which means 2025 marks a hundred years of Victorians clearing out their wardrobes for a good cause.
Whether you're in the hipster heartland of Fitzroy, the family suburbs out east, or anywhere in between, you're never far from a charity bin or an op shop worth a browse. Sacred Heart Mission alone runs 14 stores across Melbourne, and places like Brunswick and Chapel Street have become genuine destinations for vintage hunters.
- Nearly 400 charity bins across metropolitan Melbourne
- Celebrating 100 years of op shops in Australia (2025)
- Op shop hotspots in Fitzroy, Brunswick, and Chapel Street
- Sacred Heart Mission and Brotherhood of St Laurence headquartered here
All Charity Bin Locations in Melbourne
Showing 1-24 of 543 locations
SCR Group - City of Maribyrnong, Community Centre, Maribyrnong
24 hours today
Donations Accepted:
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SCR Group - GSEL, Keysborough Learning Centre, Keysborough
24 hours today
Donations Accepted:
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SCR Group - JLL, St Helena Market Place, Saint Helena
24 hours today
Donations Accepted:
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Melbourne Charity Donations FAQ
Where are the best places to donate in Melbourne?
If you want to drop things off in person, the inner north is op shop heaven. Brunswick has a strip of them along Sydney Road, and Fitzroy's Smith Street is packed with charity stores. Chapel Street down in Prahran and South Yarra is another good bet. For after-hours drops, most Coles and Woolies car parks have bins, and the big shopping centres like Chadstone, Highpoint, and Northland all have donation points.
Can someone come pick up my old furniture?
Sacred Heart Mission is brilliant for this, they'll come grab furniture, white goods, even bulk bags of clothes from anywhere in inner Melbourne, and it's totally free. Just book through their website. Brotherhood of St Laurence takes furniture at their Fitzroy and Brunswick stores, or you can call Salvos on 13 SALVOS to arrange a pickup. Just make sure whatever you're getting rid of is actually usable, not a busted old couch you couldn't sell on Marketplace.
What happens to the stuff that doesn't sell?
Only about 20% of what gets donated actually ends up on the shop floor. The rest gets sorted, and the decent stuff might get sent to regional stores or sometimes overseas. More and more of it's going to textile recyclers now. There's a company called Upparel right here in Victoria that turns old clothes into things like insulation and packaging. The stuff that's genuinely ruined still ends up in landfill though, which is why it matters what condition your donations are in.
How Melburnians are celebrating 100 years of op shoppingWhy does donation quality matter so much?
Here's the thing, charities are spending millions every year just getting rid of rubbish that people shouldn't have donated in the first place. That's money that could've gone to feeding someone or helping them find housing. Sacred Heart Mission has said that dumping costs are genuinely cutting into their ability to help the homeless. So before you chuck something in a bin, ask yourself: would you actually wear this? If not, it's probably better off in the regular bin at home.
Dumping useless donations is costing charities millionsWhat do Melbourne charities actually need right now?
Clean clothes that are still in good nick are always needed. Winter stuff like coats and jumpers flies off the shelves when it gets cold. Kids' clothes are constantly in demand because they grow out of things so fast. If you've got work-appropriate clothing, that's gold, heaps of people need decent outfits for job interviews. And weirdly, manchester (sheets, towels, that sort of thing) is always needed too.
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