Civil society minister Nick Hurd has pledged a zero tolerance approach to tackling textiles crime to address a loss of public confidence in donating clothing to charities and legitimate collectors working on their behalf.
Speaking at a House to House Clothing Collection Symposium held in London yesterday (September 14), Mr Hurd praised efforts taken to date to tackle the issue of used clothing theft and bogus collections.
And, he said he was delighted by the operation launched last week by City of London Police, which saw four men arrested in connection with an organised criminal gang suspected of stealing hundreds of thousands pounds worth of used clothing (see letsrecycle.com story).
But, Mr Hurd warned of mistrust, concern and confusion among the public over the issue, and stressed how important it was to maintain public trust in order to ensure people continue to use door-to-door clothing collections.
At the event, which was organised by the Institute of Fundraising and Fundraising Standards Board, he said: The key issue is public trust. Were trying to encourage people to give more and the last thing we need is activity that undermines the trust of the public in that giving process.
He said the impact of textiles theft and fraud was not only financial loss to charities but a growing sense of mistrust, concern and confusion among the public so we need to get on top of this.
The public need to know whats going on but also need to be reassured they can continue to help charities in this way, he added, highlighting the Fundraising Standards Boards Give With Confidence logo as an example of this.
Advocating a zero tolerance approach to criminal activity, Mr Hurd said last weeks operation had sent out a powerful message, both in terms of disrupting criminal gangs and also for raising awareness of the issue of textile theft with criminal gangs nationwide.
Co-ordinated action
Mr Hurd praised the co-ordinated approach taken for both that police operation and in the wider work being carried out to address the issue such as the House to House Collections Code, which was published in March 2011 to raise standards among legitimate collectors (see letsrecycle.com story).
He also highlighted the January round-table meeting, which he chaired and which brought together commercial textile recyclers, charities, regulatory bodies and the police (see letsrecycle.com story).
But, he said it was now vital to build on this progress. So far, so good, but what Id like to understand is how do we maintain this momentum? How do we build on the enforcement activity thats already taken place? he asked.
How can we be more consistent in our message to the public and drive a wedge between legitimate collections and criminal gangs?
He added: The instinct is to call for more regulation, but that would just add to the burden for legitimate charities and commercial collectors whereas gangs would keep operating outside the law.
We can check this problem by everyone working together in a co-ordinated way.
TRA
Following his speech, the Textile Recycling Association (TRA) highlighted its role in the initiatives which were highlighted by Mr Hurd both at yesterdays event and at the January round-table.
The trade bodys national liaison manager Alan Wheeler said: We already recognised back then that there was a need for collaborative action involving all industry stakeholders and that differences needed to be put aside to tackle the real problems caused by bogus charity collectors and criminal gangs.
I am delighted that real progress has been made since January with the vast majority of stakeholders following this mantra.
However, the TRA added it would like to see those factions that put out information which seeks to discredit the fundraising choices of other charities to draw a line and to come forward with us in delivering these important objectives.
Earlier this month, the British Heart Foundation claimed there was confusion among householders over the percentage of the proceeds from the sale of used clothing goes to a charity when a commercial company collects it on their behalf (see letsrecycle.com story).
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