A Fair deal for Charity Shops

10.04.44am GMT Tue 20th Nov 2007

Rosalind Wright

Rosalind Wright, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Eaton, will be throwing the spotlight onto charity shop waste charges next week at Norwich City Council's November meeting.

Cllr Wright, who is also a member of the council's Waste Management Working Party, is asking what assurances can be given that there will be fair charges in future for charity shops' waste disposal.

"It is unfortunate that some people abuse charity shops' services by dumping domestic rubbish on their doorstep. This is not a reason to penalise charity shops with unfair charges. Charity shops make an invaluable contribution to sustainable living. At a time when we are encouraging everyone to reuse, recycle and reduce waste, we should be doing everything to help them."

The Question to Council will be:

"Given the confusion over the correct waste charges for Charity Shops and the survey currently being carried out by Norwich City Council into these charges, could the executive member assure the Council that charity shops in the city will not, in the future, be unfairly charged for waste disposal?"

Additional Information:

The Association of Charity Shops has been campaigning against what it sees as the overcharging of its members for waste disposal.

The outline of the story is to be found here: http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=9194

The Association of Charity shops stance is outlined in the Lobbying update section here:

http://www.charityshops.org.uk/news.html#lobby

Norwich City Council has already been challenged over its policy towards charity shop waste. An article in the Evening News on 18th September quoted the Council position thus: "A spokesman for the council said collection and disposal was overseen by an outside contractor which had resulted in the charges. He added "We are carrying out a review of our waste management strategy which will look at how we deal with all our waste collection, including that of charity shops. "Charity shops play a valuable role in the work they do and in the city's economy and we will do all we can to make sure we retain them".