Charity shop volunteers have revealed the grotty 'donations' people are making to their stores as the lockdown lifting sparks a rush.
Volunteers and employees in the shops in Devon have revealed some of the shocking things they have come across when sorting out bags of unwanted items.
Following their big reopening on April 12 after months of closure, charity shops say they have received an influx of donations from people eager to clear out their wardrobes.
One north Devon charity shop has reported recently having had the ‘pleasure and honour’ of unpacking three used toilet brushes, and a bag full of used and unwashed underwear.
A South Molton charity shop has admitted it only keeps around 10% of the donations it receives - because so many of the so-called donations are too revolting to sell.
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According to Devon Live, the horror list of worst donations to the area's charity shops include:
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A handbag containing a bag of dog poo
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Men’s suit trousers that are orange-stained around the crotch area
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Clothes with big splashes of blood on them
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Shoes with dung trodden into the cleats
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Used sex toys, adult DVDs and ‘worn dressing-up clothes’
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A chair with a missing leg
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Half-used bottles of shampoo, hair dye, and bubble bath
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Food out of date by several years
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A big bag of broken wax crayons
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A stained potty
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Half-used boxes of incontinence pads
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A box of rusty screws, nails, nuts and bolts, dried up tubes of glue, and bits of broken wood
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Several loose knives not wrapped safely in a bag
The assistant manager of the charity shop, who asked to remain anonymous, said it often spends £40 a week on refuse costs to have unsuitable items taken away that ‘even the rag man’ wouldn’t touch.
She said: “After so many years working for a charity as an assistant manager, I can honestly say I must have seen most things donated.
“I have come across stained and torn clothes, broken ornaments, electrical items with plugs cut off, filthy dirty food mixers, frying pans still with food burnt on, stained bedding and cushions, and filthy cuddly toys that no sane parent would let their child handle.
“The smell when you open big bags of clothing can be overpowering. I personally hate sorting kids clothing as they are often stained, especially the baby stuff.
“The sad thing is that for every quality item that we can sell in our shops we have to sort through hundreds more than we can’t sell. I estimate that we keep about 10 per cent of our donations.
“It’s true, we can sell rags to some recycling companies, but they do state in their terms and conditions that clothing we send to them should still be of a wearable quality, but so often it isn’t, an we get paid very little so it isn’t really worth our time or valuable space in the shop.
“Working or volunteering in a charity shop and sorting through donations really illustrates to you the bizarreness of the human mentality. I have a theory that most people who donate to a charity shop don’t actually shop in a charity shop, or they would not give us the utter rubbish that they do, and in the condition that they do.
“The current thing to have to send to the rag man is books. Hundreds of books per week arrive in the shops and hardly any of them are of saleable quality. They usually are dirty, stained, damp, smell or are absolutely covered in ancient dust.
“It makes you wonder how these people live, and what their houses must look like.”
Earlier this year, the BBC reported how Devon-charity Hospicare faces an annual bill of £32,000 to dispose of donated items that it cannot sell.
Many of the donations are stained, spattered in paint and in one case a child's potty was soiled.
It calculates about 20 to 25% of donations can be sold in the shops, another 55 to 65 per cent, are recycled while about 20 per cent goes away as commercial waste
However, a now-retired charity shop worker says it is important to remember not to judge because it is not known who the donor is and the most people have good intentions.
Zoe Hearn, of Holsworthy, who used to volunteer for a Sue Ryder charity shop, said: “I loved my job. Yes you do get some grotty things donated, but you have to look at the bigger picture.
“People are good with what they donate 9.5 times out of 10. What must be remembered is there is a deeper level because some people who make donations have mental health problems, are grieving or are of that older generation where they think someone else can do something with it.
“For example if an elderly man is grieving, they may have been told by their late wife to donate all her things to charity and has been in a rush to do it. They might also not be mentally well.
“It might also be that a wife has told her husband to take some bags to the charity shop and he has picked up a bag that was meant for the rubbish with it.
“Everyone has a story, as they say. People think they are helping and most people have the best of intentions.
“You can also have a not very nice bag of donations and yet find a little gem at the bottom of it.”
