AFTER a reader wrote last week to express her doubts about 'charity bags' pushed through her letterbox, an investigation by the Ross Gazette has revealed a bewildering number of organisations using this method of fundraising, many of which are bona fide – though some are not.

To confuse matters further, door-to-door charity collections are often conducted not by the charities themselves, but by private companies, some of which have chequered histories.

The large plastic bags, usually white and folded up in a smaller, printed plastic envelope, are familiar to householders – as are the names of some of the charities in question. The envelopes typically ask for the bags to be filled with unwanted jewellery, shoes, handbags, clothing and other textiles, then left on the doorstep for collection.

But among the genuine collectors are companies that fraudulently claim charitable motivation or operate outside the law. One such outfit is Dagenham-based E & C Export Ltd, whose name and contact details feature on collection bags recently distributed in Ross on behalf of children's charity Second Chance.

E & C Export was prosecuted in Cardiff last year for collecting clothes without a licence, using bags marked with the name of a genuine charity, the Children's Heart Surgery Fund, that had severed its association with E & C two months previously. Despite several attempts by the Gazette's reporter, no spokesman for Second Chance could be reached for comment.

Clearly such tactics harm the reputation of bona fide collectors, and, according to independent online watchdog http://www.charitybags.org.uk">www.charitybags.org.uk, lose genuine charities £10 million every year.

On the other hand, where conducted properly, clothing collections can be a boon. Kevin Biles, Recycling Manager for the Fire Fighters Charity, told the Ross Gazette, "Textile recycling is a superb income generator, and made us over £100,000 last year."

His admission that the sum represents only 20 per cent of the revenue generated by collections in FFC bags shows how much money there is in old clothes – which in turn explains why unscrupulous collectors go to all the trouble of distributing the bags.