You know those big bins outside shops for recycling, clothes, shoes etc, do the clothes get donated? I need to get rid of a load of clothes and don’t want to put them in there if they’re just going to be thrown away. I’m assuming the clothes put in there are donated to charities and stuff but I just want to check before I put clothes in there. I’m not talking about the ones labelled Salvation Army, but just big plain bins labelled clothes outside Sainsburys and that.
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Typically they donate to a charity £X per kg of clothing.
They then sell the clothing, often to make a profit.
If you’re going to recycle your clothes, try to find one of those bins outside an infant/junior school, fire station, etc. At least they’ll get a little profit.
I can’t answer for any particular clothes bin, but there are a number of possibilities.
Some clothes may end up in charity shops, but I suspect much of those are donated directly to the charities in question.
Others may be shipped out to poorer countries.
A fair quantity will be recycled, being sent to be processed into rags or shredded as fibrous insulation/packing etc.
Some of the smaller “local” charities will wholesale off any unsuitable clothes/shoes to the modern equivalent of “the rag man” to get recycled to maximise their income.
Most of them take the clothes to eastern Europe and west Africa and sell them in markets.
Same with the bags that come through the door.
The UK is the second largest exporter of used clothes in the world.
Most of that goes to rag recycling, sold by weight, and the charity gets a proportion of the money.
If you want to donate clothing & it’s in good condition, take it to your nearest charity shop or depending where you live, check if there is a homeless shelter which might need clothing
No, they’re sold as scrap material, and the profits are “donated”.
They’re usually run by private firms who donate “profits” AKA a small amount after they’ve taken all their costs.
Same with that Ladbaby bloke, Trussel Trust said he donated about £1m over the 5 years. And yet he’s reported incomes many times that each year
https://www.rag-bag.co.uk/what-happens.php