Charities will be hit by re-cycling charge

A LOCAL charity has hit out at council plans to limit non-profit organisations’ visits to recycling centres, saying the new rules are ‘unfeasible’ and will impact its work.

Wiltshire Council confirmed last week that from September it would limit voluntary sector groups to  an average of one visit to a household recycling centre (HRC) per month, and that they’d have to pay.

Dorothy House Hospice Care, which runs two charity shops in Melksham as well as others in the county, has said the move is counter-intuitive and will impact its fundraising.

Director of retail at the charity, James MacDonald told Melksham Independent News, “Dorothy House visits recycling centres in Trowbridge, Melksham, and Chippenham about once a week each.

“Once a month is not feasible, and Wiltshire Council should note this is domestic waste from people’s homes, not commercial waste.

“Any charges imposed will reduce the amount of care Dorothy House can provide to patients in Wiltshire, which may of course increase the costs of care Wiltshire Council has to provide.”

James argued that the shops, which sell people’s unwanted clothes, furniture, books, toys, and electrical goods, save a lot of things from being thrown in the bin.

He continued, “We believe that the presence of our shops on the local high street has a positive impact on rates of reuse and recycling, and helps to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

“In 2015, the charity retail sector was able to sell or recycle over 90% of donated clothing and books, and 85% of donated electrical goods. The sector was able to reuse or recycle 373,000 tonnes of material last year.

“The Controlled Waste Regulations 2012  makes it clear that waste produced by a charity shop selling donated goods which have originated from private donors should be counted as household waste, not commercial.

“If our shops were not there, most of this waste would be passed directly to local authorities for disposal – costing local authorities like Wiltshire Council a fortune in Landfill Tax.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said: “We only have a duty to provide household recycling centres for our residents to dispose of their waste.

“During 2015-16 we reduced the opening hours at all 11 household recycling centres in order to make savings. As a consequence some sites have experienced long queues during their busiest times.

“Recognising this issue, we have begun looking at all users of these sites in order to improve access for residents. As a consequence, and to make further savings, from September this year we intend to limit access for the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (including charities) to the sites.

“They will still be able to access the household recycling centres but the number of visits will be limited to 12 per organisation per year and a small charge will apply to cover the cost of managing the waste they deliver.”