Charity shop waste

[Delly9]

A few weeks ago my partner donated his daughter’s dolls house to a local independent charity shop. They have 1 shop. They said they are unique because they never throw anything away which we thought was good.

A few days later on their Facebook page they posted asking if anyone knows of someone with a waste licence of stuff to get rid of which they posted a photo. There was a massive pile of bags of clothes. There were children’s books which there was nothing wrong with them as you could see. Then we saw my partner’s dolls house and something else he donated.

We were upset because that dolls house was looked after and if we had known they were going to just throw it away we would have put online for free collection. That could have gone to a good home to a family who don’t have much money. Even if someone had it for free to sell on it wouldn’t be landfilled. We only donated to the charity because they said they are local and don’t throw things out and want toys to sell to children in the local community. They had the cheek to moan about the charity shop down the road for throwing things out.

I don’t get why people lie or society promotes sustainability if this happens. So disappointed they lied to us.

On Friday i spent an hour going through children’s jigsaws that had arrived in 3 large bags, not a single one was complete, all into the recycling bin. Please do not donate puzzles or games unless complete and please please then tape both sides to stop pieces falling out.

with clothes we can rag them for a very small amount of money, we can sell medium quality to a wholesaler for a little more but can only sell in store nearly new clothes which don’t have visible fading, damage or misshaping, it’s most helpful to split your donations and check the shop you are donating to has a rag/wholesale option, not all do. Household goods should not be damaged or stained, no scratches on cookware etc. please think “would I buy this?” If not then it’s not fit for donation (I don’t mean whether it’s your taste, I mean from a quality perspective). Household goods have to be binned if not fit for sale and that costs charities money. Finally we cannot sell certain things including household goods requiring safety tables if removed (eg on furniture) some baby equipment, used pet equipment, duvets and pillows, check with the store before you try to drop it off.

I would probably ask them why, there could be a reasonable explanation, probably to do with what they can sell.

Is the charity shop new? It’s odd that they had nothing in place for waste disposal and had to ask on Facebook.

OP, did you ever go back to the shop to find out why? I'd be curious to get to the bottom of this story! There's a chance the person in the shop either misunderstood or mis-explained, so go in with kindness if you do.

I volunteer and I would be very surprised if any charity shop actually threw away a dolls house if it was in decent condition. It would make no sense, why would they pay to throw it away (as they do have to pay for waste collection) if it was something that would sell. Especially at this time of year. There must have been a reason they were no selling it.