Oxfam makes emergency appeal for stock donations

17 May 2011 News

Oxfam has launched an emergency appeal for donations of goods for its shops after a fire last month devastated its main recycling and storing facility.

The fire-ravaged Wastesaver plant where Oxfam lot tonnes of donated stock.

Oxfam has launched an emergency appeal for donations of goods for its shops after a fire last month devastated its main recycling and storing facility.

The charity, which has over 700 high street shops, suffered a massive, losing an unspecified amount of stock. The fire destroyed stock set aside for Oxfam’s roving festival shop, which last year raised more than £250,000.

Now facing what it calls a “stock crisis” Oxfam is appealing for the public to donate unwanted goods to its shops or donation banks across the country. The appeal will be advertised in shops, and through Oxfam's regular communications channels, but there will be no paid-for advertising.

David McCullough, trading director at Oxfam, said: “We’ll be back up to full operations again very soon, but the situation is so severe and unprecedented that we’ve launched an emergency appeal for stock for the first time in our history. Now more than ever we urgently need donations so we can keep raising money for our work around the world.”

Leading figures in retail have backed the campaign, with both Whistles chief executive Jane Shepherdson and Red or Dead founder Wayne Hemmingway throwing their support behind the campaign.

The Wastesaver facility was the only one of its kind in the UK, and sorted textiles into re-saleable items and goods for recycling. It handles more than 800 tonnes of textile a month.