Clothes Aid, a social business which works to raise funds for several well-known and established UK charities, supports the call for a clampdown on unscrupulous clothing collections made in the Sunday Post (The great charity bag rip-off, Sunday 7 February).
Since 1996, Clothes Aid has collected clothes on a licensed and legitimate basis, working closely with local authorities, police, Fundraising Standards Board, Textile Recycling Association, and Institute of Fundraising Scotland. In this time, we have raised over £9 million for charities including Macmillan Cancer Support, the NSPCC, Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) and the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS).
The bogus clothing collection companies mentioned in the article tarnish the reputation of bona fide operators and detract from the benefits gained from legitimate clothing donations. Clothes Aid calls for more support from Police Scotland and Trading Standards Scotland to crack down on illegal operators.
Besides the benefit to charities, donating clothes in this manner has important environmental benefits, and giving to Clothes Aid keeps textiles away from landfill. In the UK alone over 350,000* tonnes of used clothing is disposed of every year, estimated at £100 million in value.
Clothes Aid supports the role of charity shops in recycling but many charities don’t have shops and rely on door to door collections to raise much needed funds.
We urge the people of Scotland and the rest of the UK not to give up on their overwhelmingly charitable spirit in response to this article. If you have any queries about a Clothes Aid collection bag, please don’t hesitate to call our helpline on 020 7288 8545 (open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
Please keep giving, but check who you give to.
(* WRAP, Valuing our Clothes report, 2012)
