Clothing banks in Mucklagh removed due to "continuous illegal dumping"

By Rebekah O'Reilly

Offaly County Council said it was recently forced to remove the clothing banks that were in place in Mucklagh due to "continuous illegal dumping".

In a post on social media earlier this month, the local authority gave notification of the removal of the clothing banks, adding that members of the public should bring reusable textiles to their local charity shop or recycle them at other clothing banks, the closest one to Mucklagh being located at Tesco in Tullamore.

Speaking about the issue, local Fianna Fáil councillor Ollie Bryant said a mountain of black bags were being left at the site in recent times, and that the problem had only been getting worse.

"Every week people were dumping black bags of clothes there, and then it became every day," he commented.

"When it comes to clothes dumping, there's no evidence, and the council can't use CCTV anymore to see who is dumping. People don't realise they can't just leave their clothes there, even if the clothes bank is full."

Speaking about the explosion in clothing donations, Councillor Bryant said that fast fashion and cheap clothing were becoming a huge issue.

"Clothes are becoming a big issue – even the charity shops are having a hard time with the amount of clothes. For every 10 bags of clothes that come in, only two are good clothes. The rest need to be disposed of.

"There's one charity shop in Tullamore that recently ended up with 150 bags of waste clothes. This is going to be a huge problem going forward," he said.

He added that while people used to wear clothes for a year or more, things have changed.

"It's something that needs to be looked at. People are not keeping and using clothes the way they used to – people are now buying new clothes every other week."

When asked what people should do if they see their local clothes bank is full, Councillor Bryant said: "I would ask people to bring them to another clothes bank, or bring them home, and if the clothes bank is full they should report it to the council, or to their local representative."

The bottle banks remain at the site, and are available for use.

Councillor Bryant said there was a possibility the clothing banks could be reinstated once CCTV was allowed to be re-installed.