Germany – The UK’s Textile Recycling Association (TRA) has lost a quarter of its collector and processor membership to bankruptcy or closure since the beginning of the ‘crash’ in used clothing values in 2013, the BIR world recycling body’s recent textiles division meeting in Berlin was informed by TRA director Alan Wheeler.
And yet despite this significant but unwanted ‘milestone’, he told delegates in the German capital, ‘I still have to answer questions from the public, media and charities themselves about how much profit used clothing collectors are making and whether they could be paying more to charities.’
He went on to urge local authorities and charities to be ‘realistic’ in their price expectations. Referring to the glut of business failures in the UK textiles recycling sector over the last three years, Wheeler asked: ‘How much more evidence do they need before they can accept that charities are not being taken for a ride and that our members are not making excessive profits – if any profits at all?’
Recycling International will publish the full BIR review in its upcoming June/July issue.
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