Larger charities usually publish some sort of info about % of their revenue that goes to charitable cause compared to admin. I was astonished to read a few years ago that barnardos were closing their defined benefit pension scheme. Most companies had long closed theirs and such scheme is a luxury not a necessity.

How odd Fara dont seem to want to talk to us here

They do sell very nice stuff and its the right thing for the location and size of shop.

I have on occasion seen vans that recycle but more often the ones that are called rubbish removal.

Next time i see this, i will take a bag to one side and see whats in it.

I am hoping they will come onto this thread to explain

When we've had gift-aid emails telling us how much has been raised from the sale of our donations it's always a lot less at FARA compared to what other charity shops raise from similar items. I think they only sell very expensive and designer clothes in the shops, and everything else is sold off by weight, whereas somewhere like Trinity Hospice or British Heart Foundation will sell more ordinary clothes in the shops, so getting more money for them. I avoid donating to FARA now.

According to their website:

"Sustainability and recycling are an important part of FARA's operations. All donated clothing not of saleable quality is passed on to an independent recycling company who sell it on for use in other Countries. Donating is better than discarding: throwing away any item of clothing increases landfill waste. If each UK household donated just one extra black bag of clothing, we could save 25 million bags from landfill and raise over £740 million for charity.*"

I've seen the recycling bans come and take sackfuls of clothes away - these are sold by the ton and a lot of charity shops do this. I imagine that the rubbish you have seen is genuine rubbish.

I have seen this too and have found it concerning.

The Scope and Cancer Research shops on St Johns rd are always crying out for donations so please consider them when having a clear out, and the heart foundation shop welcomes kids books as well as adults. They always seem very grateful!

Unfortunately I see this a lot as my little ones are at nursery just up that road, and almost on a daily basis there are bin bags left outside FARA, and a lorry comes up to take them away.
However, I've only seen good quality, mainly branded clothes for sale in that store, so it could be the excesses that do not tend to sell (I can imagine that some families might use FARA as a bit of a dumping ground for all outgrown clothing regardless of condition).
It could be that the bags get re-distributed to other FARA stores, but it is odd that the bin bags are not labelled to assist with this. Or they could simply be taken to clothes recycling and FARA may get a contribution per weight?
If they are actually thrown away, then that is a real shame especially when there are so many out there that are in desperate need of clothing, and would put me off donating to FARA in the future.
I'm following this post as I'm intrigued if someone does have an answer as to what happens to them...if I get the time, I'll pop in to the shop and ask?

That does seem shocking but we don't really know what is in those bags. Some of it might be just general waste plus everyone brings their donations in bags which will then have to be thrown out. Also, they must get lots of broken items and things in such a state that they can't be used. I don't think they would throw away anything that could be used... I hope

I was walking past Fara this morning and was, again, terrified by the piles of donations in black bin bags, ready to be collected by waste collectors. Usually the van that comes is from 'london waste'.

I just felt, particularly after Grenfell disaster, wouldn't there be a better use for these items? Other than Grenfell - you sort of think that Syria could use some and a few other countries, even if they are not suitable for the plush sw11 charity shop? What about selling them by the kilo - like the sort of companies schools get in to fundraise?

Is it about time Fara tell us what they put in those bags and why?