GENEROUS people have donated their unwanted clothes to recycling banks raising almost £98,000 to support firefighters.

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service has collected over 482 tonnes of unwanted clothing in in its Fire Fighters Charity recycling banks.

This impressive result, donated by the generous public, is the quantity and value of clothing collected by the service over the past ten years and available for resale, re-use and recycling.

This achievement has been flagged up in the Fire Fighters Charity’s latest Clothes Recycling Performance Report, which has announced that nearly £5million of unwanted clothing has been donated to fire stations across UK in the ten years up to March 2021.

Group Commander Martin Lown, HWFRS’s Fire Fighters Charity lead, said: "This is a really great result and I’d like to thank the Herefordshire and Worcestershire communities for your support to this highly worthwhile scheme.

“By making the effort to bring items to our recycling banks instead of simply throwing them away, you are directly contributing to communities in the developing world, as well as supporting our firefighters should they need the charity’s help after their many years of service to our two counties.

“Anyone who would like to donate unwanted items can find out what we can and can’t take, and where our recycling banks are, at firefighterscharity.org.uk/get-involved/recycle-your-clothing.

“So why not Clear Out Your Cupboards and help people in need and the Fire Fighters Charity."

Clothing, shoes, handbags and textiles donated as part of the Fire Fighters Charity’s Recycling Scheme are collected by the Fire Fighters Charity’s recycling partners, enabling wearable clothing to be re-used and usually finding its way to under-developed countries, to the benefit of their communities.

Meanwhile, any unwearable textiles are recycled into a range of items such as industrial wipers and car upholstery as well as being re-used in the production of scores of other items.

The income generated for the Fire Fighters Charity from textile recycling helps fund the charity’s physical, psychological and welfare support for firefighters across UK who turn to the charity for help, after their many years of dedicated support to the public whenever called on.