Call You & Yours: "What are you donating to charity shops?"

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On today's Call You & Yours we want to hear from you about donating to charity shops. Tell us: What are you donating to charity shops? Hundreds of big brand charity shops are closing their high street shops. They say it's a perfect storm of high running cost, but they're also seeing lower quality donations from fast fashion brands. If we can make any money out of our old clothes we're using second hand markerplaces like Vinted, Depop and Ebay; in the past they would have been destined for the charity shop. But there's another problem: volunteers are spending hours sorting through items that are not good enough to sell. Bags of worn out clothes, broken toys, old junk furniture, alongside items like CDs and DVDs that have little value. It can be worse than that, some people will leave bags from house clearances with used and dirty clothes, even rubbish than should be in the bin. Charities have to pay hundreds of pounds to take this to the dump. Some charities have started to say no to poor quality donations, checking bags before they are left. They want us to really think if it has a sellable value? But why do we take this stuff to the charity shop in the first place when we know it's worn out? Joining us in Nicola Norris Head of Retail in Leicestershire and Rutland at AgeUK, who is trying new ideas and being more upfront with donors to make sure its charity shops operate efficiently and get the best value from their donations. We'd love to hear from you if you work in a charity shop or enjoy shopping them - what have you seen? You can email us: youandyours@bbc.co.uk Our phone lines open at 11am where you can call 03700 100 444 PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON PRODUCER: LYDIA THOMAS