Where can I donate smoky clothes?

Choppit69

My mother in law recently passed away, and while clearing the house, we've gathered around 20 dustbin bags of clothes, which whilst in good condition, smell very strongly of cigarette smoke. It's not practical for us to wash/dry the clothes, and most charities request that clothes are clean, so I'm wondering if there's anywhere that would take them "as-is", rather than us sending them to the tip. Thanks for any advice

Grumpy_chap

Do you have local authority rag banks nearby?

I can't imagine anyone wanting clothing that is not in a wearable condition, not for use as clothing in any case.

marcia_

 Probably the local tip. 

 Friend of mine runs a charity shop and has to pay to get donations like this removed. They dont have facilities to wash clothes.!

cymruchris

Either wash and donate the good stuff - or tip. 

theoretica

Many charities can accept donations of rags to sell in bulk - might be worth asking a few if these would be acceptable.  Or, if they are good quality, offering on social media/asking if anyone would donate the washing.

greyteam1959

Local amenity tip.

[Deleted User]

Wash them, then take to the clothes banks you find dotted around towns.

Choppit69

Thanks all for the advice. I took them to the tip with the intention of putting them in general waste, explained the situation to the staff (multiple times), who advised me to put them in the clothing bank. 

compfan100

Wash em or tip em.

Charity shops don't want unsaleable clothes,..they would rather you donated them to a local group.

Mistral001

Choppit69 said:

Thanks all for the advice. I took them to the tip with the intention of putting them in general waste, explained the situation to the staff (multiple times), who advised me to put them in the clothing bank. 

They will probably go for rags rather than landfill so will be of some use to someone.  I remember working in a factory once and they used a lot of rags  to clean machines and clean up oil leaks etc.  I remember being once being told to chuck a whole bag of rags into a sump to soak up the dirty oil. A lot quicker than getting a special machine to pump the dirty oil out.