Trust in charity doorstep collections of clothes is being undermined by bogus charity collectors and commercial collectors.

This is one of the findings of the Consumers Association, Which? in a survey that found that 30% of its members who failed to fill charity bags after leaflet drops said it was due to concern about the leaflets not being from genuine charities. Another finding was that many bags filled for genuine charities and left on doorsteps are then stolen by gangs working in unmarked vans before the charity van arrives, an aspect that costs one charity collection agent Clothes Aid an estimated £1 million a year. Continue reading →

Local authorities are ripping off charities by having their waste falsely classified as “commercial” and then charging them hundreds of millions of pounds to have it disposed of by appointed council contractors.

According to campaigning journalist Christopher Booker, writing in the Sunday Telegraph the councils are breaching the 1992 Controlled Waste Regulations which rules that the waste from a wide variety of non-commercial bodies, including charity shops, care homes, hospitals, schools and prisons is classified as “household”. Continue reading →

Nearly 60 per cent of TV viewers have claimed they now trust the BBC less than they used to, according to an opinion poll by The Guardian.

This also found that 58% believed that the BBC was no more likely to tell the truth than any other channel, these aspects coming in the wake of revelations that viewers were being misled on charity fundraising programmes. (See Charity Matters, July “BBC LET DOWN CHARITIES, AND CHILDREN”). Continue reading →

A charity has warned that tree-planting to offset carbon – a popular choice for those not wishing to change their ways and wanting to buy their way out – is like drinking water to stop rising sea levels.

This is the view of botanist Dr Oliver Rackham and Ray Harrington-Vail of the Footprint Trust, a charity set up in 2002 to reduce the ecological footprint of the Isle of Wight. Both point out that any vegetation absorbs carbon during its life but that this is released when the plant dies, is eaten or is burnt. And that most of the trees planted will succumb to disease or predation rather than growing to a majestic old age. Continue reading →