Social and Environmental Impact Report 2024-25

Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL) is the trading arm of The Salvation Army UK and Ireland, raising funds through charity retail, reuse and recycling. In 2024-25, 6.9 million customers were served (up 15%); 77,000 tonnes of textiles and 25,000 tonnes of other items were collected; 505,000 tonnes of carbon emissions were avoided; £5.43m was raised for The Salvation Army; £2.87m was raised for partner charities; 6,663 free clothing vouchers were distributed (up 28%); and 170 volunteers moved into paid employment. Project Re:claim won Recycler of the Year 2024. SATCoL was Outstanding Charity Retailer of the Year 2024.

Report snapshot
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📋About

260+ charity retail stores (195+ high street shops, 57 donation centres); 8,350+ clothing banks; 4 processing centres (Kettering); Clothing Collection Division (2,650+ house collections); FibersortTM (UK's only automated textile fibre sorting — 1.7m+ items sorted); Project Re:claimTM (first commercial-scale polyester recycling plant); GiveITBack IT asset disposal; Take Back Schemes; Flooring Reuse Programme; Repair Cafés; Sally Salvage furniture events; The Learning Booth eLearning platform; in-house tailoring department Custom geography from upload: UK-wide (HQ Wellingborough, Northants)

📊Key Metrics

6.9 million customers served in 2024-25 (up 15%); 77,000 tonnes textiles and 25,000 tonnes other items collected; 505,000 tonnes carbon emissions avoided Key Metric 1
£5.43m raised for The Salvation Army UK and Ireland; £2.87m raised for partner charities, local authorities, schools and clubs; 6,663 free clothing vouchers distributed (up 28%) Key Metric 2
1,357 paid colleagues; 6,091 volunteers; 170 volunteers moved into paid employment; 6% reduction in operational carbon emissions vs 2019-20 baseline; Project Re:claim won Recycler of the Year at Plastics Industry Awards 2024 Key Metric 3

Key Outcomes

  • Outstanding Charity Retailer of the Year 2024 (Charity Retail Association); Environment and Sustainability Award (CRA 2024); Social Value Award 2025; Recycler of the Year (Plastics Industry Awards 2024); 2 Star Outstanding Employer Accreditation (Best Companies Ltd); Best Benefits Launch/Relaunch Award (Reward Gateway 2024)
  • Official clothing collection partner for London Marathon; Green Football Weekend's Great Save official charity partner (178,000+ people engaged); BBC One Show feature on Fibersort and Project Re:claim (March 2025); Fibersort surpassed 1.7 million items sorted; 195 tonnes waste polyester processed; Project Re:claim hosted 2 Design for Recyclability workshops for brands and retailers
  • 100% electricity from certified renewables (Ecotricity); 68% company cars electric, 27% hybrid (total 95%); 27 electric vans in retail fleet (33%); net zero target 90% carbon reduction by 2040; HMP Five Wells collaboration: 9,400 denim bags made by prisoners from unwearable jeans; 4,041 IT devices collected through GiveITBack

📍Geography

Other

2025

Annual Report 2024-2025

25.9 million visits to Trust properties in 2024-25 (up from 25.3m in 2023-24); 5.35 million individual members (2.61 million memberships)
Key Metric 1
£221.2m total spend on property projects and acquisitions (up from £193.4m); £7.3m invested at Sandilands to convert 30-hectare former golf course into wetland nature reserve
Key Metric 2
Record fundraising appeals, gifts and grants in 2024-25; 5% increase in paying visitor numbers; 896 miles of coastline and ~250,000 hectares of land protected
Key Metric 3
New 10-year strategy People and Nature Thriving launched January 2025; RHS Chelsea Flower Show Octavia Hill Garden won Silver Gilt Medal, Children's Choice and People's Choice awards; partnership with Defra, English Community Forests and Woodland Trust to plant 2 million trees on Trust land over 5 years
2025

Impact Report 2024-2025

13.6 million guests and donors served; 80.5 million lbs of goods diverted from landfill; 95% of donated textiles make a tangible impact (less than 5% to landfill)
Key Metric 1
816,635 tonnes of carbon emissions displaced; 135,192 kilolitres of water saved; equivalent to planting 37.5 million trees or removing 177,529 cars from the road
Key Metric 2
Over $1 million raised through GoodWorks@Work campaigns including $573,308 Christmas Kettle, $167,787 Send a Kid to Camp, $96,021 Fight for Freedom (modern slavery), $102,464 Brighter Days; 110 donation drives collected 183,513 lbs of goods
Key Metric 3
The Salvation Army in Canada: 3 million visits for assistance last year; 4.8 million community and shelter meals distributed; 345,000 Christmas assistance visits; 8,350 shelter/addictions/detox/mental health beds; 73 individuals removed from human trafficking situations; 2,900 children and teens attended summer camps
2024

Impact Report 2023/24

222,500 homes changed for the better through £34 million of grants delivered via Ofgem's Energy Redress Scheme — a record-breaking year; £117 million allocated to 536 energy projects via Redress since 2018
Key Metric 1
16,000 householders received online energy advice through Energy Advice London; 3,500 spoke to a specialist advisor by phone or email; 12,809 households received free advice through Wales Nest scheme with 4,816 receiving home improvement packages
Key Metric 2
28,000+ free SME net zero resources accessed; 1,384 bespoke energy saving reports delivered to 969 SMEs; average annual energy bill saving of £595 for Nest scheme households in Wales
Key Metric 3
Commissioned by the Climate Change Committee to analyse international climate policy responses and define lessons for UK — research highlighted 12 initiatives addressing gaps in UK climate policy