Clothing Collections

ladylouise62

I wouldn't use any of the bags now - even the more legit ones seem to have a company collect for them and then pass just a part of the profit over.

Funnily enough, theft of the bags doesn't seem to be an issue around here. We get up to 4 bags a week (!), but the 2 times I've left stuff out it's not been collected, 2 neighbours have had stuff uncollected on 3 other occasions and it's not that anyone got the days wrong - I have been at the bus stop and watched them pass by ignoring my bag and one further down the street. Obviously, they "...should've gone to specsavers"

Comyface

I left a Roy Castle bag out once that wasn't collected, so I took it to the shop (which was walking distance from my flat anyway! lol).

I now use the bags as bin liners, saves me buying any, very MSE, I get at least 2 per week. A friend of mine then made me feel bad saying I should put the empty bags back out to be collected and re-used! Ah well.

Charis

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Breast Cancer in Lithuania today, only one filled bag in whole street.

I had one of these bags last week. Does Lithuania actually have facilities to treat the women whose mammogram the are purported to be paying for? If so, why don't they have a screening program funded from the same source?

If you want to know how much any charity pays towards the people they are supposed to represent, look up their charity number on the Charity Commissioners website. I once found one whose director was making a tidy sum but whose donations to the charity were minimal.

If they don't have a registered charity number, be suspicious.

Yesterday our community support officer told us that she's had several reports of a white van collecting the bags. The collection company logo is on banner attached to the side of the van with magnets. She asked us to keep a look out next time a collection is due and phone in with the reg number. It's a lucrative little racket, the only overheads are for petrol. Urban foraging.

lincroft1710

Charis wrote: »

I had one of these bags last week. Does Lithuania actually have facilities to treat the women whose mammogram the are purported to be paying for? If so, why don't they have a screening program funded from the same source?

If you want to know how much any charity pays towards the people they are supposed to represent, look up their charity number on the Charity Commissioners website. I once found one whose director was making a tidy sum but whose donations to the charity were minimal.

If they don't have a registered charity number, be suspicious.

Because we don't throw clothes out until they have holes in or are coming apart at the seams (and then we use them as rags), we rarely give to clothes collections. If I recall, according to the info on the envelope, the charity is registered in Lithuania, but it was a clothes collecting company who donate a fixed amount each month to the charity.

However although the charity may be worthy of support I would prefer to donate items to a charity which helped British women who suffered from breast cancer.

meg72

lincroft1710 wrote: »

NSPCC today, very poor, less than 10% have put out filled bags.

Thats sad but I have to say that I have now stopped putting out a bag for anyone due to the fact that most times they are not collected. and I end up taking the stuff to charity shop anyway.

Savvy_Sue

Comyface wrote: »

I now use the bags as bin liners, saves me buying any, very MSE, I get at least 2 per week. A friend of mine then made me feel bad saying I should put the empty bags back out to be collected and re-used! Ah well.

You think? I have two bags from the same charity sat on my doorstep for I don't know how long, you'd think having one left out would be a hint not to leave a second ...

paddedjohn

The Salvation Army outsouce their collection to a company in the Midlands, this company in turn employ collectors in various areas to leaflet homes and then collect the clothes. In the N/W there was a collector who filled a forty foot trailer every two weeks and got paid a considerable sum of money. Very little money ends up with the charity as after the collector is payed, the rags have to be transported and sorted and the only people benefiting are the merchants
Rags are worth a lot of money, £500-£600 per ton which works out at about £5 for a bin bag so why not collect all the streets bags together and take them yourselves and use the money to benefit the locals

kerri_gt

i used to put stuff out in bags before I saw a programme about these clothes being sold in 3rd World counties - and although for some it is a lifeline, they get so much that it is actually stifling development of industry in those countries and not actually addressing key issues such as infrastructure and industry. I have also put bags out for other 'UK' charities on several occasions and they have not been collected.

These days I tend to either sell on eBay or have just started doing the odd car boot to shift unwanted stuff that won't easily sell in eBay. I put that money towards debts and savings, but I do make donations direct to a chosen local hospice where I know my money is being used directly to help those I want to.