What happens when you give to charity?
Perhaps only a quarter of the clothes we donate are sold in charity shops. Who chooses which ones to keep - and what happens to the rest? Yvonne Gordon reports
We're becoming familiar with the reduce, reuse, recycle philosophy - and, in any case, some of us have been bringing clothes to charity shops for years. The shops provide affordable clothes and household goods and reduce landfill waste through recycling; last year they raised €20 million.
Money bags?: Agee Sage of Oxfam sorts through clothes donated to the
charity.
Few people know how far their charity can go, however: donated clothing, even if not in great condition, could end up going abroad to be revamped and sold, or used as stuffing for mattresses.
So how does it all work? Ireland has about 300 charity shops, most of which accept donations of stock. The Society of St Vincent de Paul has about 120, accepting household goods, furniture and clothes.
When a bag of clothes comes into one of the society's shops the contents are sorted before the clothes are washed, ironed and put out for sale. The society estimates that its Dublin shops sell only about a quarter of what they take in.
Columba Faulkner, the charity's national secretary, explains how it decides which clothes are good enough to sell. "If you and I wouldn't wear them we wouldn't expect poor people to wear them," she says. "If they're not good enough for us to sell they can be sold on for recycling, for rags. We get money for that."
According to Faulkner, clothes given to a shop in a town are usually sold in that town. If a shop has too much or too little of something, stock is shared within that region. All of the money raised goes through the Society of St Vincent de Paul to people who need it.
Faulkner says that although it does well from donations to the shops, the society needs to maintain its presence as fully as it can, so it uses other ways of gathering stock. One is to leave collection bags at churches; people can take them away, fill them and bring them back the following week.
"People like that, because they drive to Mass, throw the bags in the boot and leave them at the church," she says. The society also collects in supermarket car parks. "We try to make it easy for people."
It will arrange for vans to collect large items from houses but is wary of accepting items that are of no use. "If we call to a house and it's furniture that is no good, we just politely refuse it. We can't afford to go to the dump to get rid of it," says Faulkner.
"With clothes you don't know what's in a bag till it has landed with you. There was a radio programme recently about how some people working in charity shops were appalled by the rubbish. We do get rubbish occasionally, but on the whole people are respectful and give decent stuff."
Oxfam Ireland also accepts clothes, books, furniture and household goods. It has 42 shops in the Republic and Northern Ireland. Trevor Anderson, its retail manager, says about 60 per cent of donated goods are in good enough condition to sell.
Anderson explains that whoever is working in a shop at a particular time will sort through what comes in. If a coat, for example, is in excellent condition but needs a button, they might sew one on. Anderson says the quality of donations varies from shop to shop.
Oxfam also collects through clothing and book banks. "We've been working with various councils who encourage people to donate to 'bring' centres," says Anderson. "It's a partnership. They encourage people to reuse and recycle rather than bring to landfill sites."
Oxfam also operates a collection service for large goods, as long as they are in saleable condition. Anderson says that over the past 18 months Oxfam has received more rubbish than it used to, possibly due to dumping charges.
Many unsaleable items, however, such as books and textiles, can be recycled. Textiles can go to rag merchants, who buy by weight. Textile Recycling is one of the companies that buy surplus clothing from charity shops. It also operates nearly 300 textile banks, which accept clothes, sheets, blankets and shoes.
According to Michael Clifford of the company, the items are sorted and wearable clothes separated out. These are then graded by quality and shipped abroad. The condition and fabric of an item determines how it is graded and where it ends up.
"There would be different grades in men's shirts that would be suitable for re-wear in different parts of the world," he says. "Cottons would be more suitable for wear in Africa than nylon."
An A-grade item would be close to perfect, according to Clifford: "No buttons missing, no marks on the collar." A-grades include items still in their original packaging - perhaps unwanted gifts. "B-grade is where the cuffs might be a bit worn or there's a button missing," he says.
"The really poor and worn stuff that's just a step above what we'd use for recycling would be a C-grade." According to Clifford, C-grade items go to countries where they can be revamped. A shirt with worn cuffs or collar would have new ones sewn on before it is sold on.
Once clothes are sorted, graded and baled they are shipped to eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and elsewhere and sold through dealers.
"Everything we collect is exported. If somebody puts something into one of our banks they won't see it walking down the street coming towards them, which is an issue with some people. Let's say they're clearing out the house after parents have died: they don't want to see something familiar walking towards them."
Does this type of trade affect indigenous textile manufacturers? Clifford says that some countries have cracked down on the import of second-hand clothes - and that they are quite entitled to do so. "I think we nearly did it here in the early years, when we were trying to protect or develop our own textile industry, but that's fine," he says. "Markets open and markets close. You just have to be flexible and follow the market."
Clifford says that the percentage of donated clothes that can be reworn is always changing and can even depend on the time of year.
Material that can't be reworn or shipped abroad is used to manufacture wipers for industry, such as cloths for cleaning engines.
Wool is sent to specialists who strip it down, dye it and use it again. Poorer-quality material can be used by specialists for stuffing mattresses, soundproofing cars and making carpet underlay.
Clifford says that between 2 and 4 per cent of what is put into bring banks is unusable - perhaps wet or soiled. In this case the company pays to dump it. It also mistakenly receives jewellery, deeds to houses and other valuables. "The most common one is people putting their dry-cleaning in by accident," he says.
Margaret Foynes, Dublin City Council's environmental-awareness officer, says that they encourage people not to bin clothes.
"It's a viable market. Even worn stuff can be reused," says Foynes, who adds that the council hasn't noticed a huge increase in bring-bank usage since waste charges were introduced. "People are usually very good giving to charity shops anyway," she says. "Clothes banks are handy - and good for people who might not want to be seen going in and out of charity shops."
Beware of bogus charity bags
The Irish Charity Shops Association warns of bogus collectors, who operate without permits. Martin Kenny of the association explains: "There are
people posting collection bags to houses, pretending to be charities. Their literature looks like they are helping the Third World. They are actually selling the goods to private second-hand shops, usually abroad, for private gain."
Michael Clifford of Textile Recycling, one of the legitimate companies that buy surplus clothing from charity shops, agrees that unlicensed collectors pose a problem. "They'll get maybe a couple of hundred bags out of a housing estate. They'll go off, rifle through them, pick the best 20 or 30 items and dump the rest of the stuff on the side of the road," he says. "That's why being sure of who you are giving stuff to is so important."
The Irish Charity Shops Association says that to ensure your donations are benefiting real charities, look for the coat-hanger symbol on collection bags and leaflets and in shops.
The Society of St Vincent de Paul is at 01-8384164, www.svp.ie; Oxfam Ireland is at 01-6727662, www.oxfamireland.org
