A clothing collection service visiting Bendigo has clarified it is not a charitable organisation, with donated items destined for shelves in Africa.
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Melbourne-based company Allround Recycling delivers plastic bags to homes that can be filled with unwanted clothes and left beside letterboxes for pick-up.
But unlike donations left at charity bins, clothes given to Allround Recycling are exported to a company in the United Arab Emirates that washes and resells the items in Africa.
Managing director Robert Karavesov admitted there had been “a lot of confusion” about his company’s status since it launched seven years ago.
A older bag design named the Children First Foundation as an organisation to which Allround Recycling made contributions, but Mr Karavesov said all mentions of the charity had been removed from their packaging.
He also said a process to remove the charity from its website had also begun.
Bendigo woman Jacinta Richards, who received an Allround bag in the mail last month, said she was disappointed the clothes did not go to a charity.
“I did make the assumption they were for some kind of charity as clothes donations generally are,” she said.
She would like to see the bags clearly explain the company’s intentions for the clothes, so people did not think they were supporting a not-for-profit organisation.
But Mr Karavesov said donors should not worry concerned about charity shops missing out on secondhand goods. Many already could not handle the amount of goods they received, and employed Allround Recycling to relieve them of some goods, he said.
In fact, at-home collections made up just 20 percent of the clothes collected by Allround, which got most of its stock from “various and well-known Australian charities”, Mr Karavesov said.
While the company had occasionally serviced Bendigo in the seven years since it started operation, it had begun visiting the regional city with increased regularity.
The collection was completed by staff from Melbourne, Mr Karavesov said.
But Ms Richards was also dismayed by the collection service’s tardiness, saying a bag she left out was not picked up on its due date.
Leaving it out while away for the weekend, Ms Richards returned to find the package torn apart by cats and its contents soaked by rain. She washed the items and took them to a charity bin instead.
“I wouldn't use the bags for curb side collection again,” Ms Richards said.
“Maybe they could monitor their collection better to avoid residents littering their street with uncollected clothes.”
Mr Karavesov said collections must be placed beside the letterbox before 8am on the morning of collection, and if a bag was missed, donors should call the number listed on the bag.