Beware of bogus textile/clothes collections

These days there are many companies offering a door to door collection service for bags of clothes, shoes etc that you can leave outside of your house on a particular day for collection. You may have received flyers in your letter box offering such collections.

 
How to spot bogus clothes/textile collectors?

As clothes/textiles are reusable items they are not classified as a waste and fall outside the waste collection system which controls other waste collections . The bogus collectors will often outline permit numbers and registered charity numbers on their flyers but these are often found to be bogus.

The only way to check if the collection is for a genuine charity is to check if the charity is registered. The link below gives a list of registered charities in Ireland.

However, even if the collection is for a genuine registered charity, at times bogus collectors may still intervene and take the bags before the registered charity can collect them.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/business/authorised-charities.html

 
What is the appeal for bogus clothes/textile collectors?

Old clothes may be a waste for the householder but they are in fact valuable and money can be made in exporting clothes. Too often, many of the textiles left out for collection by householders end up being dumped illegally because the bogus collectors remove the ‘best’ items from the bags and these are exported for re-sale  while the remainder of the bag may be discarded.

Householders should be aware that their act of charity may result in textiles/clothes being dumped rather than in the hands of a reputable charity.

Also, if illegally dumped textiles/clothes are traced back to the householder, the householder may be fined as the holder of the waste under the Litter Pollution Act.

What is the best way of disposing of old clothes?

It is important that the householders either recycle or offer their old clothes for reuse. It would be a waste for such items to end up in landfill.

If in doubt about using a door to door collector the best thing to do is to use waste collectors known to you or bring your old clothes to a clothing collection point which should have the chosen charity named on the clothing bank.

Clothes/textile banks

Umbra Clothing Collections have clothing banks located throughout the Country for collection of old clothes, shoes and textiles. As with collectors the clothes banks are not always provided by genuine collectors or charities.

If using a textile/clothes bank always use one belonging to a well known and registered charity and if in doubt contact the charity to verify that they have a clothes collection bank at that location.
 
Remember the same rules apply to clothes/textile banks as to bottle banks.

If the clothes bank is full, do not leave your items at the bank, come back another day!