Amazon has joined forces with its suppliers of well-known household brands including Unilever, L’Oréal, Colgate-Palmolive, Beiersdorf, Mayborn, and their own brand, by Amazon, to deliver over 250,000 products to families in need via The Multibank charity.
From today until 28 January, for every two purchases on Amazon.co.uk from a selection of over 800 personal hygiene, household and baby products, Amazon and its suppliers will donate a third item to the network of Multibanks across the UK.
Amazon’s You Buy. We Donate campaign follows The Multibank charity’s recent hygiene poverty campaign at sports fixtures across England which it hopes will improves today’s return to school for many children across the UK.
The Multibank, working with Fans Supporting Foodbanks and well known sports clubs across Britain and The Hygiene Bank collected tens of thousands of hygiene products at sporting fixtures across England over the Christmas & New Year period which will be distributed to families in need across the UK.
According to a recent survey for The Hygiene Bank, teachers are spending £40 million out of their own pockets to combat the effects hygiene poverty in the classroom as 1 in 4 children (28%) are reported to be regularly missing school because they or their clothes or kit are not clean.
Together with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Amazon formed the UK’s first Multibank in Scotland three years ago to redistribute surplus stock from its largest returns centre in Fife to local families in need. They opened a second Multibank in Wigan in 2023, followed by Swansea, London and Middlesbrough in 2024. Working together with local charity partners and a network of suppliers, The Multibank movement has donated more than 5 million surplus essentials to help more than 500,000 families experiencing poverty.
Former UK Prime Minister Rt Hon Gordon Brown, said: “Last month’s inspirational Multibank donation drive by sports fans means, this month children will be able to go to and stay engaged at school – and socially – simply because they feel and smell clean. We can do much more to support them in 2025. ”
“I’m delighted Amazon, whose surplus stocks are already a mainstay of Multibank goods, are launching a multi-business collaboration amongst hygiene companies to increase the amount of hygiene goods supplied to our Multibanks. I thank all the companies involved.”
“We know The Multibanks are making a real difference keeping hard-pressed families facing the future with some hope of better days ahead. We must now keep innovating how we do charitable work in our communities because too many children need the help right now and teachers tell us that keeping kids clean and smelling fresh is for them a priority issue.”
John Boumphrey, Amazon UK country manager, said: “We are incredibly proud to have supported the foundation and continued expansion of the Multibank network. It has been inspiring to see sports fans donating to the recent hygiene poverty campaign and helping those most in need in our communities. We want to continue that goodwill and by working together with our suppliers and our customers, we hope to generate hundreds of thousands more donations and alleviate the consequences of hygiene poverty.”
Chris Barron, general manager for personal care UK&I at Unilever, said: “The support that The Multibank provides is so important, helping households that are facing hygiene poverty to access the daily products that help people to feel clean and confident. We know that together we can do more, so we’re really pleased to be partnering with Amazon with a shared commitment to get more products to the charities and people that need them most.”
Brands participating in You Buy. We Donate are Amazon brands by Amazon, and Mama Bear, as well as, Dove, Elvive, Colgate, Garnier, L’Oréal Paris, Lynx, Men Expert, Nivea, Palmolive, Radox, Revitalift, Sanex, SheaMoisture, Simple, Sure, Tommee, Tippee TRESemme, and Vaseline.
Transport logistics specialists, Palletline is providing logistics support for the campaign free of charge, handling the storage and onward distribution of all donations to The Multibank’s network of regional hubs.
