The Salvation Army is trialling new sensors in some of its clothing donation bins, in a bid to cut collections costs and process donations of clothes and shoes more efficiently.

The new netBin monitoring technology, developed by technology company FarSite, will provide insight into the filling patterns and general behaviour of donors, tracking fill levels and thereby reducing the risk of overflowing.

The Salvation Army boasts more than 6,000 clothing banks around the country, and in the last five years its trading subsidiary which runs the clothing bank network has donated more than £35m to the charity.

The netBin waste monitoring product is being tested in 104 of the charity’s collection bins in the East Midlands.

Brett Simpson, head of development at the Salvation Army Trading Company, said the trial aimed to improve the efficiency of its textile recycling operations in order to maximise the money raised from public donations.

“The ability to get accurate fill levels on a timely basis could be a real step forward in the planning and emptying of our network of over 6,000 clothing banks,” he said.