Homelessness charity faces £11K disposal costs from unusable donations

A homeless charity is urging donors to “sift before you gift” to reduce the £11,000 disposal costs it currently faces.

Emmaus SLC – which runs eight shops at locations including Knights Hill, West Norwood, Brixton, Purley and Wallington –  racks up £30.60 per day to dispose of undesirable items, such as grubby, torn or even soiled garments. 

This adds up to more than £11,000 per year, funnelling away vital funds that could instead be used to help vulnerable people out of homelessness.

The charity has now launched a campaign to encourage donors to take unsuitable items to the recycling centre instead.

Emmaus SLC is not the only charity facing this problem. The Charity Retail Association estimates that by weight, five per cent of all donated clothing must be disposed of as waste due to being unsuitable for either reuse or recycling. 

Retail supervisor for Emmaus SLC, Barbara Kelly, said: “We really appreciate clothing donations, they’re what keep our charity in business, but while most contributions are suitable for our shops, we encounter some things we’d rather not come across!

“In the worst-case scenarios, we’ve had used underwear cropping up among donated clothing, making it very unpleasant and unhygienic for our volunteers and staff members.

“If donors took a few minutes just to sift through their items one by one before bagging them up, it would eliminate any unsuitable garments that might have got swept up with the main clothing.”

Pictured top: Barbara Kelly sifting through donations at Emmaus SLC (Picture: Emmaus SLC)