Charities could have lost hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations after 750 clothing banks were removed from car parks. Recycling companies and charities which operates the banks says up to 20 a week have gone missing in the last 12 months.
The Textile Recycling Association says some of the banks have been resprayed and branded with a different charity logo and placed at sites without permission. The Charity Commission has launched an investigation into one charity.
There are around 15 thousand textile banks throughout the UK often placed at supermarket carparks and recycling sites. More than 300,000 tonnes of clothing and textiles are collected each year. Some of the banks are run by charities themselves such as The Salvation Army, Oxfam and the British Heart Foundation, but others are operated by private recycling companies who give a donation to their chosen charities - on average £250 for every tonne of clothes collected. Around £75m was given to charities and local authorities last year.
The Textile Recycling Association (TRA) - which represents the sector - says clothing banks have been taken from across England - including the North West, the Midlands and Eastern England. It says charities receive on average £70 a week from each bank and because it can take between six to eight weeks to replace a bank, it is feared charities could have lost more than a third of a million pounds in donations. In some cases, the recycling companies aren't replacing the banks so the charities will lose out permanently.