Imperial Charity, in Westbury, is asking Wiltshire Council to reconsider their current waste disposal policy, saying it is putting ‘dramatic’ pressure on the charity.
Following Wiltshire Council’s policy of closing local recycling centres for two days in mid-week and reducing the opening hours, the charity say they have had a ‘dramatic’ increase in calls to collect unsuitable items of furniture, that ordinarily would have gone to the recycling depot.
Bob Summerfield, business manager at Imperial Charity said, “People don’t realise the cost involved to charities of being asked to collect items that are obviously not in a condition to be sold.
“Further investigation has revealed that people are asking three or four charities to collect the same item. When asked why, the answer is always the same; it is because they have asked the council to take the item away, for a fee, and are told that there is normally a wait of up to four to six weeks and that the items must be placed on the kerbside, which of course is not physically possible for many people.
“This situation is exacerbated by charities not being permitted to take any non-recyclable items to the local depots and restricted to 12 visits per year, for which we have to pay £75 for the privilege!
“There has also been a marked increase of people ‘dumping’ unwanted items outside the shops during the hours of darkness. While on occasions they may think they are helping the charity they are in effect “fly tipping”. In the last few days alone, a totally unsellable sofa was left outside the Warminster Road shop and a large quantity of black bags full of items that could not be sold were left outside the High Street shop. This again is added cost as we have to pay to dispose of it all as we are not allowed to take it to the recycling centre.
“Charities overall contribute a huge amount to the recycling effort by virtue of what they do and with a little common sense and co-operation, could contribute even more to the environment.
“Whichever way it is looked at, items no longer required and are unfit to be sold/recycled, are going to end up in landfill. Which is better for the environment – one van load from a charity, or four to six separate car/van loads from households?
“In addition of course would be the knock on effect of helping those people in the community who are not in a position to avail themselves of the council service.
“The current policy is causing more problems than it solves. Wiltshire Council are very keen for us to understand their problems, but appear to be not so keen to understand other people’s. I would ask them to reconsider their current policy.”
Cllr Bridget Wayman, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Waste, said: “We reviewed our policy relating to the disposal of waste from charity shops in 2016, in order to avoid disposal costs estimated to be in the order to £40,000 per year.
“Household recycling centres often became congested with vans and other large vehicles, with some charities visiting several times a day. We were concerned that by continuing to offer free and unlimited disposal, there was little incentive for local re-use charities to cease collecting items that may not be suitable for re-use or re-sale, which led to us picking up the full costs for the disposal of such items.
“We cannot be held responsible for charities taking on items that aren’t fit to be sold-on and they have to make it clear to people the condition expected.
“All HRCs are open five days a week including weekends and Mondays, which are the busiest times, so residents also have plenty of opportunities to use these facilities – there is never any excuse for fly-tipping or not disposing of items properly
“We are disappointed to hear that people might be fly-tipping items that are unsuitable for re-use or re-sale outside the premises of re-use charities in Wiltshire. While in some cases this may be well-intentioned, it remains an illegal act to deposit waste on the highway. We are therefore happy to investigate and discuss what actions the re-use charities may be able to take to reduce this practice, including the use of appropriate signage.
“In respect of bulky household waste collections, our contractors are required to offer a collection date no later than 10 working days after the request is received and we can confirm that this target is comfortably exceeded on a regular basis so this should not contribute to an increase in items fly tipped on pavements outside of charity shops.”
