Woman upset as council mistakes charity collection bags for rubbish

A woman has been left upset after her charity donation bag was mistaken as waste by a council worker. Christine Ramage says for years she has been donating to Tree of Hope, which is a charity dedicated to helping sick and disabled children.

The 82-year-old explains she likes to try to "do her part" by donating items in the charity bags provided by the organisation.

Christine, of Bilborough, makes sure to use the correct bag for her donation and also only puts it out on the day of the charity's collection. However, a short while after she put her latest donation out on Tuesday, October 29, she saw it being picked up and thrown into the back of a waste lorry.

Initially, Christine feared someone had stolen the bag off Greystroke Drive and claimed she saw other charity bags already in the back of the collection cage. However, after reporting the incident to the council she was informed that it had been collected by mistake and that workers were told to pick up everything on the street.

Christine says the whole incident has "really upset" her. She added: "I had some good stuff in there, like some almost-new jeans and about four pairs of boots. My next-door neighbour had put bags out as well. It even says the charity on them."

The pensioner says she always takes care to put the bags out on the correct day but also does not leave them near her bins or other waste to prevent things like this from happening.

Regarding the incident, a spokesperson for Nottingham City Council stated: "We have looked into this situation and found that a new Street Cleansing employee mistakenly collected a charity donation bag from an area where some fly-tipped black bags had also been left. We apologise for any distress caused to the residents involved. We can confirm that no items collected by our street cleansing teams are sent to landfill, we make sure to divert waste materials away from these sites.

"We know the importance of residents donations and we have taken steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again, including additional guidance and training for staff, so that charity donations are left untouched in the future." Tree of Hope says it has been contacted by several residents about refuge days clashing with collection days, and the charity has asked people to keep them informed to help prevent this issue.

A spokesperson for the charity stated: "We are so grateful to all our supporters who generously donate items through our clothing collection bags. As a small charity that received no statutory funding, this income is vital in ensuring that we can continue to be there for every family that needs essential healthcare for their disabled child, which is not provided for free via the UK healthcare system.

"SOS clothing, who collect on our behalf, have been in contact with several residents who have very kindly have informed us when their refuge collection days clash with our clothing collection days – which has been helpful. Please continue to keep us informed. Our bags are very clearly labelled and identifiable so we would hope that the refuge collection team can see they aren’t general waste, although sadly this has happened on this occasion."

They added: "We would encourage residents who have supported us to continue to do so. Their generosity really does make a huge difference and is greatly appreciated by the Tree of Hope families and team."