Frequently Asked Questions
Are you a charity?
No, we are registered as a Community Interest Company (CIC) without share capital, which is a not-for-profit organisation type.
How do the memberships work?
With the annually paid membership types, you pay once, and then the items you collect are free within the membership level chosen. You can visit as often as you like during our opening hours and collect whatever you need.
For example, if you buy a Family / Household membership, then you may take items for the needs of people in your immediate family or who you live with as a household.
Pay As You Go members pay each time they visit (up to 6 times in a year) and are restricted to items that fit into one of our baskets.
Are there additional charges?
Only if you choose to collect any of the few selected items we have marked with a neon orange or yellow dot. These items cost a small additional price on top of your membership or basket price. If you spot anything with a price sticker on it, that’s left over from its previous life – please ignore those.
Is the basement an accessible space?
Sadly no. Although we have had determined wheelchair users managing to visit the space with help from their friends, it’s not easy to get into the basement if you are unable to walk down the steps. There is a handrail, but we do not have a lift or ramp into the Scrapstore. We’re looking at fundraising to find a solution to the access challenges with our space, and are interested in trying ideas out to help those who can’t currently make it down to us, to still access all the scrap treasures.
What kinds of donations do you take?
We have listed some of these on our donations page, but it does change from time to time depending on what we have in stock / room for. In general, we want components of creative projects rather than completed items. Tools are welcome too, and items don’t have to be new, complete or unused. We may refuse items that are too dirty or that we already have in large volumes.
Is there customer parking at the Scrapstore?
Sorry, there are not any free spaces for parking at the Scrapstore. You may find parking right next to us on the High Street, or on Doust Way and Easons Yard Car Park. If you are dropping off donations from a car, please move your car as soon as you have brought the items in, and do not block the entrance for other visitors to the Scrapstore or use our neighbours’ parking spaces.
What do you spend the membership fees on?
Our company expenses include rent, utility services such as electricity and water wifi, waste disposal, website fees, advertising, printing, insurance, training, marketing, equipment such as dehumidifiers, lighting, cables, cleaning things, signage etc., refreshments for volunteers, vehicle expenses for making large collections, card payment fees… We pay two freelance staff members part time for management shifts in store and admin work.
Why do you weigh the donations and items we take away?
This is a way we can measure our environmental impact. Most of the items in the Scrapstore would have been thrown away if they weren’t donated to us.
Why can’t children under the age of 12 years visit the Scrapstore?
Our insurance is based on visitors being at least 12 years old, and it’s not a safe environment for younger children, however well behaved they usually are. Everything is very tempting to play with, there are tools and sharp things, items that can make a big mess easily, and accompanying adults often become distracted easily too with all the ‘treasure’ and forget to watch their children closely enough. We are very busy and cannot look after children while adults browse, but this is what we’ve had to do when we tried to be less strict. We’ve seen dangerous and stressful situations arise, and it just isn’t fair on our volunteers, or members who do stick to this rule.
All our T&Cs are listed on the membership page.
Zigzag Scrapstore CIC 