'Tip charges cost our charity £1,000 a month'

Managers of charity shops in the Channel Islands have spoken about the "real challenge" of fly-tipping and dealing with items they cannot sell.

Rob Jones, chief executive of Les Bourgs Hospice in Guernsey, said the charity was paying about £1,000 a month in tip charges and staff costs to sort products deemed unsaleable.

CRY Jersey said items were dropped outside its door "most weeks" - even when the shop was open - and The Salvation Army reported electrical items and even rubble had been dumped at its clothing banks.

Richard Nunn, from the Salvation Army in Jersey, said: "We're really grateful for all the support we have, we would just ask people to be a bit thoughtful with our clothing banks."

Jones said Les Bourgs Hospice had experienced a number of incidences of fly-tipping following the introduction in 2019 of pay-as-you-throw rubbish charges, although cases had since fallen.

He said the charity was "very fortunate" with the quality of donations it got but items that were "clearly not sellable" should be disposed of.

"It's still costing us about £1,000 a month in tip charges, just for the shop," he said.

"But also you are paying staff as well to sort stuff, and if we're sorting stuff just for disposal, then we could be spending those salaries on actually raising money," he added.

Jones said Les Bourgs Hospice did not receive any money from the States of Guernsey and sales generated about 25% of the charity's revenue.

"If it's something you're donating that we can resell, you're effectively buying palliative care for the island," he said.

CRY Jersey said it experienced instances of fly-tipping outside its St Helier store most weeks, which was a "real challenge" for volunteers.

"It's important that you drop [donations] in to us or in our designated spaces so that they are able to be resold and money can be raised for the charities that you intend your goods to go to," said general manager Elk Hargreaves.

Hargreaves said items that were ruined as a consequence of being left out in the rain could not be sold at CRY and were instead sent for textile recycling.

She said when dumped items blocked access to the upstairs flats, volunteers had to come in when the shop was closed to move them.

The Salvation Army in Jersey recently took to social media to ask people to stop dumping bags next to its donation bins if there was no space left inside.

It said on Facebook it had experienced "a huge amount of fly-tipping" at its 60 donation bins around the island.

Salvation Army co-leader Richard Nunn said "all sorts of stuff" was left at its clothing donation banks, including broken glass.

"We've had radiators, push chairs, washing machines, fridges - all kinds of things that are clearly nothing to do with the clothing bank," he said.

The Government of Jersey's Infrastructure and Environment department said there were 185 reports of fly-tipping in 2025, of which 55 were investigated by its Pollution Control team.

It said half of its investigations related to recycling and donation bins and it recommended people phone charities or come back later if the bank was full.

The States of Guernsey was contacted for comment.

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