# Oxfam tackles problem of unsaleable donated items

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/09/15/oxfam-tackles-problem-unsaleable-donated-items/
- Published: 2005-09-15T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Oxfam spends £500,000 each year disposing of goods donated to its shops that can
not be sold because they are broken, incomplete or of poor quality. It’s new Sorted!
campaign encourages supporters to spend a few extra minutes sorting their unwanted
items before they bring them in to an Oxfam shop.**

Oxfam’s Sorted! campaign aims to reduce costs through asking the public to consider
whether Oxfam will be able to sell items they donate, or if they should instead 
be directly recycled or thrown away.

Currently, Oxfam spends £500,000 each year on sorting, storing and disposing of 
unsuitable donations, almost as much as the charity’s entire project spend in Rwanda
or Eritrea in 2005. This figure is expected to rise to £1 million because of proposed
landfill tax increases and proposed legislation about disposal of electrical equipment.

## Advertisement

The problem of waste affects all charity shops. The Association of Charity shops
estimates that £4.5 million is wasted each year by charity shops sorting, recycling
and storing unsuitable donations.

![Sorted! logo on top of plastic bags](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2021/
06/3590.jpg)

Lekha Klouda, Executive Secretary of the Association of Charity Shops sai: “We ask
that people use common sense in deciding whether the items are suitable to donate
to charity shops or whether they should be recycled elsewhere so that charity shops
do not have to pay for their disposal.”

 * **[Oxfam’s Christmas high street sales rose by more than 40 per cent](https://fundraising.co.uk/2023/01/11/oxfams-christmas-high-street-sales-rose-by-more-than-40/)(
   11 January 2023)
 * **[Donated Beatles album raises over £2,000 for BHF](https://fundraising.co.uk/2023/05/22/donated-beatles-album-raises-over-2000-for-bhf/)(
   22 May 2023)
 * **[12 high value items donated to BHF](https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/09/17/12-high-value-items-donated-to-bhf/)(
   17 September 2019)**