Investigations show that many old clothing recycling bins in urban residential communities, bearing the words "charity," "donation," and "Ministry of Civil Affairs filing number," are not set up by charitable organizations, and the true destination of the clothes is hard to trace; online recycling platforms frequently spark disputes over measurement, reward redemption, and other issues.

Key points

  • The Tianjin Civil Affairs Bureau confirmed that the city has only two old clothing recycling projects carried out in the name of charity, but the reporters found at least 5 different charity project names on the bins during the investigation.
  • Industry insiders estimate that less than one-tenth of the total recycled old clothes may actually be used for charitable donations; one ton of "mixed goods" sells for about 1,000 yuan, and after sorting, good denim fabric can reach 4,000 yuan per ton.
  • On March 17, 2022, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a notice prohibiting organizations or individuals without public fundraising qualifications from recycling used clothing in the name of charity.

Recycling bins: counterfeit charity and lack of oversight coexist

According to public reports, old clothing recycling bins began to appear in large numbers in residential communities around 2014. According to a 2019 statistic by the Special Committee of the Waste Textile Comprehensive Utilization Alliance of the Shandong Circular Economy Association, Shandong Province had more than 23,000 used clothing recycling bins, and member companies of the special committee recycled 300,000 tons of used clothing annually. Reporters visited more than 30 communities in Beijing and Tianjin and interviewed residents in Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, and other places, learning that almost every community has such recycling bins, and some communities have four placed side by side in one spot.

The Tianjin Civil Affairs Bureau explained to reporters that old clothing recycling bins in communities fall into two categories: those set up by charitable organizations are public fundraising and must have public fundraising qualifications, clearly indicate the organization name, fundraising qualification certificate, and contact information in a prominent position on the bin, and be publicized on the national charity information disclosure platform (China Charity Platform); those placed by individuals or enterprises are commercial paid recycling and the bins must not be used as donation boxes. Staff said that bins printed with "environmental protection" or "recycling" are commercial acts, while those printed with "charity," "love," or "public welfare" are charitable acts.

But reporters found that the contact phone numbers on many recycling bins were no longer reachable: of 9 numbers, 2 were turned off, 3 were empty numbers, and 3 went unanswered; the only one that connected said he was only responsible for installing the bins and did not know about the recycling business. For the bins printed with the "Yiyibushe" public welfare environmental protection project, its initiating organization, the Jiangxi Red Cross Foundation, stated on the China Charity Platform that the project had not carried out public fundraising on any platform or offline and had stopped cooperation with its partner.

Where old clothes go and the profit chain

Meng Chao, who has been engaged in secondhand goods recycling in Jizhou District, Tianjin, for five years, said that recycled old clothes mainly have two destinations: those meeting donation requirements are used for donations, and those that do not are used for environmental recycling. He estimated that the proportion of old clothes truly donated to poor mountainous areas may be less than one-tenth of the total. Mixed clothing in the industry is called "tonghuo," about 1,000 yuan per ton; after sorting or deep processing, the price increases several times, with good denim fabric selling for 4,000 yuan per ton, and down and cashmere categories reaching tens of thousands of yuan per ton. Meng Chao said that people often open the bins in various communities monthly to collect clothes, taking away about one ton at a time, and multiple recycling bins in some communities may belong to the same person.

On e-commerce platforms, some online stores openly provide customization services for "public welfare love donation old clothing recycling bins," selling more than 100 per month, and show sample images printed with "Fujian Province ×× Public Welfare Project" and a civil affairs filing number.

Measurement and payment disputes in online recycling

Online old clothing recycling platforms mostly use a paid model, offering free door-to-door pickup and rewards. Baijingyu Old Clothes Recycling recently had more than 2 million users, while Kuaishou Recycling, Dangdang Yixia, and others had more than 1 million. Taking Feimayi Old Clothes Recycling as an example, each kilogram recycled earns a 0.5 yuan cash red envelope, or each order donates 100 grams of animal food, or each kilogram earns 50 environmental beans for exchanging goods, memberships, and more.

But reporters personally experienced one recycling order: the pickup was scheduled for 5 p.m., but due to the platform's cooperation with third-party couriers and chaotic dispatch, it was actually shipped only on the third day; before shipping, the reporter measured 11 items of clothing plus a pair of shoes totaling 3.8 kilograms, but the order page showed 10 kilograms, with the 42 yuan courier fee borne by the platform; customer service said it would be checked by dedicated staff. The recycling tracking page only showed the clothes arriving from the courier station to the platform warehouse, after which the processing situation could not be checked.

Reward redemption was also delayed. Mr. Yin in Suzhou sent 5 kilograms of clothes in February, exchanged them for a 20 yuan gift voucher and redeemed laundry detergent, but the platform did not ship for a long time citing the local pandemic; Ms. Xiao in Wuhan completed an order in May and was supposed to receive a 52 yuan cash red envelope, but the withdrawal did not arrive and contacting customer service was unsuccessful.

Regulation and trends

On March 17, 2022, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued the "Notice on Prohibiting Organizations or Individuals Without Public Fundraising Qualifications from Carrying Out Used Clothing Recycling in the Name of Charity," emphasizing that only charitable organizations with public fundraising qualifications can carry out public fundraising, and that if names are found to be misused, they should promptly announce clarification and report the situation.

Meng Qiang, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology School of Law, believes that such acts are driven by profit, with enterprises and individuals packaging for-profit behavior as charity, and even falsely using the name of civil affairs departments to obtain donated clothing; the misused civil affairs departments should intervene or transfer the matter to law enforcement departments, with market regulation and public security management departments providing oversight, and judicial authorities intervening if a crime is constituted.

The Charity Law requires charitable organizations with public fundraising qualifications to regularly disclose fundraising and project implementation information; if the fundraising period exceeds six months, they must disclose at least once every three months, and fully disclose within three months after the activity ends. But reporters found that some old clothing recycling projects in the name of charity published information untimely and unclearly, with one project still showing "no progress description available" five years after its launch. The China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation's "Old Clothes Recyclable" project, by contrast, kept relatively clear records, such as donating 100 military coats and 100 silk quilts worth more than 26,000 yuan to a rural welfare home in Shayang County, Hubei, on December 15, 2021; there have been more than a dozen such records since June 2020.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Tianjin Civil Affairs Bureau said that the cleanup and rectification of old clothing recycling bins is ongoing, and reports of illegal placement will be investigated and handled; as demand for old clothes in poor mountainous areas decreases and some registered charity projects expire, old clothing recycling may be undertaken more by enterprises in the future, and obsolete recycling bins will be gradually cleared.

Significance for the industry: This investigation reveals the blurred boundary between public welfare and business in old clothing recycling and the lack of traceability mechanisms. If the industry is to continue to gain public trust, transparent processing and compliant qualifications of recycling entities are unavoidable prerequisites.

Source: Is old clothing recycling public welfare or business? Where do the recycled clothes go? - Xinhua Net · Originally published on 2022-07-12