Dirty mattress toppers, bags with holes and smelly socks and old kitchen appliances are some of what the Church’s City Mission in Bodø has found in its clothing containers. It creates extra work and takes up space for what they really want – warm, good clothes that can be given to those who need it. – We find rubbish and equipment that is so worn and bad that it has to be thrown away, says Lars Vestnes, general manager of Kirkens Bymisjon Nordland. As much as half of what ends up in their container in Bodø has to be thrown away. A kitchen machine that was delivered, which was dirty and full of critters. The City Mission now wants to put an end to this. Photo: Kasper Holgersen / news Sandra Vestnes shows off an old kitchen machine that was delivered the other day. She says that it was full of food scraps, which pests feasted on. – It’s actually quite disgusting that people deliver this. It is certainly not something we can take care of. Would rather spend time with the children Kirkens Bymisjon has a good agreement with the waste disposal company Retura Iris which means that they can deliver a lot of rubbish without a large cost. But they still spend an unnecessary amount of time on it, according to Vestnes. – But you want to spend as much time as possible being with children and young people who are here to visit and borrow equipment. Lars Vestnes, general manager of Kirkens Bymisjon Nordland, will encourage people to take a look in their wardrobes. Photo: Kasper Holgersen / news Vestnes says it may well be that there are some who also only use the containers as rubbish bins, but that he thinks most people don’t mean any harm. – We see every day that many people have a desire to help others through us. Had to pay NOK 141,000 in waste management UFF Norway also has the same problem. – We constantly experience that textile waste is thrown into our containers, and this is a cost and burden for us. That’s what Helena Harborg of UFF Norway writes in an e-mail to news. Dirty panties, clothes with spills of oil, animal hair, blood and urine are some of what they have found in their clothing containers. They have also found food waste, residual waste and paper. Sandra Vestnes stands inside the Treasury of the Church’s City Mission in Bodø. Photo: Kasper Holgersen / news – This can destroy the donated clothes, writes Harborg. In 2022, UFF collected 7,500 tonnes of textiles. Of that, approximately 650 tonnes are sorted out as waste which is handled in Norway. Last year they had to pay NOK 141,000 in waste management. Harborg believes there are several reasons why they get a lot of waste in the containers. Helena Harborg in UFF Norway says that they have to pay dearly for the rubbish people deliver. Photo: Matus Kotulak / UFF – In the big picture, it’s probably about a lack of a system in the public sector to handle textile waste. As it is now, you have to throw it in residual waste – so there is no separate category for recycling for textile waste. As a result, a lot can end up with us instead. No good way to recycle textile waste In the past, news has written about how textiles in residual waste can destroy the machinery at waste management facilities. Director of Fretex miljø, Kristin Hareide, also believes that people are a bit at a loss when it comes to where to dispose of damaged clothes and textiles – and that it therefore ends up in collection containers. In 2022, Fretex collected 13,554 tonnes of clothing and textiles throughout the country. Of that, around 10 per cent had to be thrown away, i.e. around 1355 tonnes. – When we receive this, it goes from being household waste to commercial waste that we as a company have to pay to get rid of, she says and adds: Kristin Hareide, Director of Environment at Fretex. Photo: Morten Bendiksen – It is of course unfortunate that we have to spend money on this all the time we are a non-profit actor working to contribute to socially beneficial purposes through the Salvation Army’s social work. From 2025, municipalities must have separate collection of textile waste, following a requirement from the EU. – I know that the municipalities are now running various tests to find out the best solutions for collecting textile waste. But so far there is no good solution for how people can get rid of textile waste in an ideal way. Rubbish lying next to one of UFF’s containers Photo: UFF Norge She recommends keeping clothes that are clean, whole and dry, separate from the rest, i.e. clothes that can be repaired and material recycled, as well as dirty, wet textiles that only function as energy recovery. – Until the market for material recycling is developed, the best solution will probably be energy recycling. Work is being done on various fronts to find the best solutions for collecting textile waste in the various municipalities. Until then, we encourage people to contact their municipality to find out what applies there. – But how are people supposed to know what to throw away and what to deliver for recycling? – The solution is for the donors to ask themselves whether what they are giving is something others can enjoy or not. If not, then it probably cannot be reused. Then they have to check with their municipality what to do with damaged clothes and things. In many cases, the answer will be that it must be delivered to recycling stations.
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Kirkens Bymisjon, Fretex and UFF ask people to think before donating rubbish – news Nordland
