Ride-hailing platform Uber has partnered with the Australian Red Cross to launch a limited-time free door-to-door pickup service in six cities—Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Canberra—transporting residents' idle clothing and other donations to nearby Red Cross stores. Pickup hours are Saturday, October 17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and residents must book in advance through the Uber app. In the 2025 joint clothing drive, nearly 125,000 kg of secondhand clothing was collected nationwide.

Key Points

  • Service covers six cities—Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Canberra—with a pickup window of Saturday, October 17, 10:00–16:00
  • Donations must be packed in bags or boxes, weigh no more than 20 kg per item, and fit in a mid-size sedan's trunk; eligible orders show as A$0 in the app
  • Last year's Uber–Australian Red Cross clothing drive collected nearly 125,000 kg of clothing nationwide

How to Book and What You Can Donate

In the Uber app, scroll to find the Red Cross clothing drive entry, set the destination to the preset "Red Cross Clothing Drive," and the system will automatically identify eligible cities and waive the fee. Once the amount shows $0, you can place the order.

The Red Cross says the most needed items for this round are women's coats, knitwear, and tops.

Singer Mel C Joins In, Donating a Gucci Dress and Stage Suit

Former Spice Girls member Mel C also joined the drive, selecting three items from her personal wardrobe: a green-and-yellow tracksuit, a Gucci dress she estimates is worth A$400, and a sequined Zara suit she often wears on stage. In an interview, she noted that many people hoard items year-round and that only about 25% of the clothes in her own wardrobe are ones she actually wears. "Sorting out old clothes is one thing, but getting them to a charity thrift store is another."

Mel C herself is a regular at charity thrift stores. She once found a yellow cropped jacket at the Red Cross store in Bondi Junction and wore it on The Voice Australia; she has also scored finds at the Paddington store. She says thrifting often turns up colorways no longer available on the market, and she is especially drawn to old-school athletic tops with vintage collar designs and bold colors.

What It Means for the Industry

Australia's secondhand and donated clothing circulation has long been constrained by the "last mile"—people are willing to donate but reluctant to make a special trip to a store. This time, with the ride-hailing platform providing free transport capacity and the Red Cross handling sorting and sales, the initiative essentially uses a commercial delivery network to fill in the logistics gap in the donation and recycling chain. Judging by last year's nearly 125,000 kg haul, this kind of time-limited, concentrated campaign has become one of the supplementary sources of upstream supply for Australia's secondhand clothing market.

Source: Sydney Residents Take Note! Uber Launches Limited-Time Free New Service! Available in Six Major Australian Cities! · Originally published 2026-10-04