These days there are many companies offering a door to door collection service for your bags of clothes, shoes etc that you can leave outside of your house on a particular day for collection. Did you ever stop to consider the flyers that come through your letter box advertising clothes collections?
Sometimes these textile collections are by unauthorised collectors for bogus charities.
Too often, many of the textiles left out for collection by house holders end up in the landfill because the bogus collectors remove the ‘best’ items from the bags and these are exported for re-sale in Eastern European countries while the remainder of the bag is sent to landfill. House holders should realise that their act of charity may result in textiles ending up in a landfill rather than in the hands of a reputable charity.
We advise the public that only licensed collectors should be used and it is the house holder’s responsibility when leaving out the bag for collection to ensure that the collector has a licence. If in doubt the safest thing to do is to use waste collectors known to them or a local charity. The County Council would encourage all householders to donate their textiles to a local charity shop. This way you can ensure that the items are going to a worthy cause.
If you are ever in any doubt about a waste collector remember that The Council’s Environment Department keeps a public file on waste collection permits and waste collection permit applications. You can check the file by calling in during working hours or by telephoning the litter hotline number 1800250350.
