Poor quality donations 'costing charities money'

A pile of donations ready to be sorted by volunteers at Community Interest Company Punk Against Poverty

Charities in the South West are finding it harder to recycle excess clothes they cannot sell in their shops and get an income from it, managers say.

Textile recycling companies collect the clothes and pay by the kilogramme, but the price they pay charities has dropped.

Also, fewer companies are able to include the region on their collection routes.

The Textile Recycling Association said rising fuel and staffing costs, poorer quality clothing and changes in the global markets were making it harder for recyclers to make a profit by collecting and reselling items abroad.

Community Interest Company Punk Against Poverty in St Mary Church, Torquay

Punk Against Poverty is a community interest company based in Torquay, Devon.

The profits volunteers make from selling donated clothes and books in their St Marychurch shop go to helping low-income families and the elderly.

Stefanie Curran said they were "really grateful for donations" but about "50% of it is dirty or damaged".

Stefanie Curran said they are "really grateful for donations"

She said: "Instead of earning about a £150 a week [from textile recycling companies], we now get about £40 a month if we are lucky."

Ms Curran said she was glad they were still making collections.

"It's been a big drop in income but we are just grateful we aren't paying to get rid of it," she said.

She explained if the shop stored unsaleable clothes, staff had to pause taking further profitable donations until they had been collected and had more room.

ELT Global, her previous collector, has stopped collecting used clothes in Devon and Cornwall after 20 years serving charity shops in the region.

In a statement, ELT Global's Ian Newton said a review was undertaken and "this decision was influenced by the costs… the journey times, fuel and wage increases... associated with servicing the region".

In addition to increasing travel costs to reach the South West, the Textile Recycling Association said fast fashion had also meant more lower quality second-hand clothes that businesses could not sell on.