A successful removal campaign begins with a thorough and detailed inventory. To be able to successfully recycle your unwanted items via the Relieve network we need to know how many items you have and some specific information about each. All this information comes to us in the form of an inventory.

To create your inventory, we ask for this information about each item you wish to remove:

1. Name: A general title for the item. E.g. White rectangular desk
2. Description: A small informative description about the item.
3. Quantity: How many of this piece of furniture do you have
4. Colour: What is the predominant colour of the item
5. Material: Select the dominant materials of the item
6. Dimensions: The height, width and depth of the item
7. Age: How old is it?
8. Quality: Select from a dropdown list the general state of the item
9. Brand: If known, a brand is very helpful information.
10. Photographs: And last but not least, images of the item

The more precise information you give about each specific item, the better chance the item has of being collected and repurposed by someone else.

To get started with your first inventory, you can request our inventory template. Within the template you will find three example items already filled out to give you a rough idea of what kind of information we expect for each field.

Once you have your itinerary, the next step is to take nice photos of each item. We recommend taking images of all sides of the item, plus any features you think are important. Between 5-8 images of each item we think is sufficient. Taking pictures can sometimes be a laborious and time consuming task, but we can assure you that providing and taking attractive pictures of your items is an incredibly important step. Good pictures can help increase conversion by up to 80%! That means far less items being wasted unnecessarily and more contributing to fighting carbon emissions. To learn more about how to take good photos of your items, please refer to our photographic guidelines. It includes a step-by-step process of how to take imagery for some of the most common forms of furniture.

Once you have successfully created the inventory of your donation, it’s time to start thinking about creating your first campaign. A campaign is the vessel that brings together all the important details and information necessary so that your unwanted items can be offered and collected by our network, within the timeframe that suits your specific situation.

Here’s a breakdown of the key elements within a Relieve donation campaign:

1. Items: The items you wish to recycle and reomve. If you followed our instructions above on creating your inventory, then this step is already done.
2. Solidarity: You have control over what happens to your items and who gets access to them first. With the Relieve marketplace, you have the ability to nominate if you wish to prioritize certain members first. For example, you have the ability to prioritize NGOs and Schools, and even your own employees, before the items are offered to our wider SME network.
3. End Date: When specifically you need all items vacated from your premises.
4. Pickup location: The address and specific information about where your items are located (normally your business address) and how your beneficiaries can access the premises and items to collect.
5. Pickup dates and times: A list of specific dates and times that beneficiaries can come to collect their items.
6. Contact person(s): During collection, it is helpful for beneficiaries to have someone to contact in case they have difficulties arriving or accessing the premises.

A campaign can only have one pickup location. But you as a donator can create unlimited campaigns. If you have items at multiple locations, then it is recommended to create a campaign for each location.

At regular intervals during the campaign, and on lead up to the first collections from your campaign, we will be in contact with you and provide you with a detailed collection overview sheet. This document will provide you with all the information you need to know about who is arriving, when to expect them, and exactly what items they will be arriving to collect.

At Relieve we believe in supporting our community first, and that circularity works best when assets are distributed evenly. That’s why we created special marketplace accounts for NGOs, Schools and other social organizations to help make sure that good quality items can make it to places where they are truly needed. If you have a similar belief then you can opt to prioritize your donation for solidarity purposes and we will give our solidarity accounts exclusive first access to your donation for a nominated period of time.

To make sure your campaign prioritizes solidarity, simply mention so to a member of our team.

Furthermore, if you wish to make your items available to your employees, we have a system specifically for that, through our Employee Donation Solution. We will provide you with a dedicated, private and branded portal, exclusively for your employees, along with other services to facilitate the donation. You can read more about our Employee Removal Solution here

The end date refers to the date at which you will stop accepting beneficiaries arriving to collect items, effectively ending the campaign itself. If you have a date that you need all items gone by, for example a vacate date from a commercial premises, then this is a good example of an effective end date. If you don’t have any time pressure to remove your items, then we will work with you to pick a date that optimizes their chances of being repurposed.

Please note that end date does not refer to the date at which your items stop being available to reserve online, this date is chosen from multiple factors, which end date is one of.

To allow arriving beneficiaries to collect their items successfully, it’s important that they know where to go to collect, and how they can access their items. The information on the pickup location is sent to every collector once their reservation is successful.

The information we ask us to provide in relation to you pickup location is:

1. The address: The exact address of where the items are\
2. Parking: Is there internal underground parking, or parking externally? If there is internal parking, what is the max clearance height for arriving vehicles? If there is external parking, are there dedicated loading zones for collectors or are there paid parking bays?
3. Item locations: Are all items on the same floor or dispersed throughout the building?
4. Truck / Van Access: Can I access the location with a truck or van?
5. Lift: Can I access the items with a lift?
6. Ramp access: Can I access the items via a ramp or are there some form of stars involved in the process
7. Contact person on site: If I have difficulty accessing or finding the items will the contact person be on site if needed?

To allow for beneficiaries to collect their items, we need to know when works best for you. We ask that you provide us with a range of dates, and times within those dates, where you or your contact person will be present at the location to accept arriving collectors. We allow you to be as general or as specific as you want when nominating pickup slots to be as flexible as possible. For example, you could inform us that you are available only in the afternoons, or never on Friday. Whatever works best for you.

Once your time frame has been nominated, we divide them into 1 hour intervals. When finalizing their reservations, beneficiaries are directed to choose a pickup date and hour of the day to arrive from the list of available slots. Our platform aims to distribute collectors evenly over your pickup date range by removing certain days and times when they get booked. This way we can ensure that you are never inundated with arriving collectors all at the same time.

It’s important to nominate someone who can be the point of call for collectors if they have trouble accessing the premises or have an unforeseen issue on their end. The contact person can be a facility manager at your building or a member of your staff. Anyone that has knowledge and access to the items themselves.

If you can’t make any one available to serve as your contact person, we can supply a contact person from our team to act on their behalf. Either contact us here or visit our Custom Removal Solution page to learn more.

On regular intervals during your campaign, and as your first pickup date arrives, we will be in contact with you to share a detailed collection itinerary to help you prepare for collections.

These collection itinerary will contain all the information you need to know about who will be arriving, when they will arrive, and what specific items they are there to collect.

On the day of collection, it’s important to make sure that all items are accounted for and that collectors can access their items without interfering or disrupting others in the premises or workplace.

You as the donator are not required or expected to assist the collectors with their items, this is their responsibility. You are expected to provide information or assistance to collectors if they cannot find the pickup location and to locate their items.

Alternatively, if you either can't be there or don't have the time to welcome incoming collectors, we can provide you with a team member to manage all your collection. If you are interested in this service please contact us via the link below

When recycling your items through the Relieve platform, it is more likely than not that not all items get reserved and collected, resulting in some left over items. This can be due to a lot of factors, for example the quality, state or individualism of the item in question.

When it comes to leftover items, we strongly encourage that they not be thrown away, but rather recycled responsibly. If you require all unwanted items removed from your premises during the campaign, consider our 100% Guarantee Solution. For every item not repurposed, we will collect and send to a partner to be recycled professionally.