Charities processed 1m bags of unusable clothes last year

Updated / Wednesday, 11 Nov 2026 06:00

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Charity shops have to process nearly a fifth of the country's waste clothing, which comes from textile donations that are not fit for sale, the group representing the sector has said.

Charity Retail Ireland said its 43 members that operate retail shops to raise funds for their causes now process about 18% of Ireland's waste textiles, which it said is "a resource-intensive process that detracts efforts from the causes charitable organisations were established to support".

The group said that "at a national level, unwanted clothing and textile waste, (which is referred to as post-consumer textiles) is a growing area of concern".

It noted that Ireland generates almost double the European average of post-consumer textiles per head (31kg vs 16kg), according to the Natex 2.0 report commissioned by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment.

It said its member charities processed over 11 tonnes of unsold textiles in 2025, "equivalent to over one million bin bags of clothing which are not fit for sale".

Meanwhile, the Charity Retail Ireland Impact Report for 2025 found that €73 million was generated in sales by 407 charity shops around Ireland last year.

According to the research, in 2025 more than 10 million items of second-hand clothing were sold in charity shops, which are run by organisations such as Barnardos, the Irish Cancer Society, Simon Community, and SVP.

It said the resale process "prevented over 106,000 tonnes of carbon emissions and diverted 21 tonnes of waste from landfill and other waste streams, highlighting the unique role that charity retail plays in providing benefits for people, planet and social prosperity".

The report suggests the "scale of this impact is comparable to removing 17 million cars from the road for a day, saving 33 billion litres of water or the carbon that 4.8 billion trees could absorb in one day".

Also among the findings, was that across last year over 10 million customer transactions were recorded through Charity Retail Ireland member shops, which the group said are run by 5,000 volunteers, 800 employees (full and part-time) and 1,000 workers across CE and Tús community employment programmes.

Chair of Charity Retail Ireland Mark Sweeney said the findings "demonstrate just how much charity retail contributes across people, planet and prosperity.

"While the value created by the sector is clear, there is still more we can do, and the right support is essential to help charity retail reach its full potential."

Mr Sweeney added that the umbrella group "will continue to champion the sector, work with policymakers to secure the supports it needs, and make sure the contribution charity retail makes to communities, charities and the environment is recognised and strengthened".