Dirty dishes donated to charity shop

Severn Hospice said that last year it sold about two million items (generic image of a site in Wem above)

A hospice with 32 shops in Shropshire and Mid Wales says it is getting "more and more donations" it cannot always resell.

Shrewsbury-based Severn Hospice said that last year it sold about two million items, but it costs the organisation to recycle donations of "not so good quality".

The charity stated it had "incredible supporters", although it was seeing an increasing number of single shoes and said it could not resell items such as rusty bikes.

Head of retail Carla Siswick said: "Some of the things that have been coming through recently are washing up bowls that are still filled with last night's dinner plates."

"We might be able to reuse the plates, [but] that's not nice for our team to deal with."

Damp clothes, tops with armpit stains and dirty nappies are some of the problematic donations faced by charity shops.

The BBC has spoken to 50 charity shops across Bristol, Gloucester, Taunton, Bath and Swindon, with staff in almost all saying they felt their shops were being used as a bin.

'Push the narrative'

Ms Siswick said: "We have some incredible supporters who also give some very good, high quality donations and we're eternally grateful.

"But... we are getting more and more donations that we can't always resell."

The organisation, which has hospices in Newtown in Powys, Shrewsbury and Telford, has hundreds of volunteers.

The head of retail stated it was trying to "push the narrative of being as sustainable as we can".

"We're encouraging people to cycle more, but we can't sell bikes that are rusty and haven't been serviced.

"That's something that would cost us to dispose of."

Ms Siswick added it tries "upcycling items" where it can and added some items were used for "household rags and pet bedding".

But, she added, that eventually those items need to be dispersed which can involve using a waste company.

"We ultimately say to people 'if this isn't something that you would be willing to regift to somebody, then it's probably something that we can't take', because ultimately it will end up costing us in the long run to either move it about, reuse or repurpose it."

The hospice asked anybody unsure about what it could take to visit its website.