Expecting charity shops to recycle your unwanted clothes is creating a rubbish pile – here’s how to help to avoid that
Charity shops are generally seen as a responsible way to get rid of unwanted belongings. In theory, donating items allows them to be reused and raises money for important causes. However, many charity shops struggle to make use of the donations they receive. The UK has more charity shops per person than any other country, handling hundreds of thousands of tonnes of used clothing every year in addition to a wide range of other household items. When goods are donated to charity shops, they are either sold to local customers to be reused or purchased by commercial companies and traded through complex international markets. An estimated 70-90% of donated goods follow these routes, with local traders reusing and recycling as much as possible. However, large quantities are also dumped and burned, resulting in environmental damage and waste. My ongoing research shows the challenges charity shops face in reusing donated goods. Charity shops are the primary outlet for used textiles in the UK: roughly half of all textiles currently collected for reuse and recycling are charity …
