DIRTY and broken items and even bags of rubbish are being donated to a Herefordshire hospice.

A plea has been issued by Herefordshire's St Michael's Hospice amid a rise in the number of unsaleable items arriving at their donation centres.

This year, St Michael's Hospice has worked hard to increase access for customers looking to donate items across the county, including the opening of their first seven-day-a-week donation centre.

But, during this time, the hospice has seen an increase in unsaleable items arriving in their centres, with their teams receiving dirty or damaged clothing, broken furniture, DVD or CD cases without the discs, dirty homeware or kitchen items, broken electricals and even bags of general household rubbish.

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With government funding for hospices falling short, hospices across the country are relying on their shops as they receive more funds from retail profits than the state. St Michael’s is no different and these extreme quantities of unsaleable items is taking a toll. Processing unsaleable goods costs money and dominates a large proportion of staff and volunteer time, making it harder for the teams to get quality pre-loved goods onto the shop floor.

“Discarding items costs us money and is always our last resort,” said Lesley Wilkinson, head of retail at St Michael’s Hospice.

“We distribute many items to our pound shops, and where possible, we recycle what cannot be sold. However, both recent changes to fabric recycling and the type of items being donated means more must be disposed of by us. Waste disposal costs the organisation tens of thousands of pounds - every pound spent in this way is a pound less to spend on patient care.”

“So, we are asking everyone to pose themselves a simple question before donating their items – ‘would I buy it?’ We hope that by thinking about whether they would buy the item in its current condition, it will help our wonderful supporters know whether it is suitable for donation.”

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St Michael’s Hospice has temporarily closed the following Donation Centres from October 1 to 13 to allow time for existing donations to be processed and team members to take part in scheduled training days.

  • Whitestone Donation Centre, Hereford
  • Whitecross Road Home & Living, Hereford
  • Station Yard Home & Living, Leominster
  • Alton Road Home & Living, Ross-on-Wye

All shops will remain open throughout. To see a list of the shops still accepting donations during this time please visit the website: https://www.st-michaels-hospice.org.uk/how-you-can-help-us/shops/shop-finder/