Unwanted gifts to cost hospice dear

Dove House Hospice says Hull Council’s decision to charge for the disposing and recycling of items donated by the public comes on top of increasing charges for existing waste contracts by eight per cent.

The hospice’s director of income development, Andrea Beer, said staff would have to refuse some items to avoid adding to the waste disposal bill.

Ms Beer said: “We’d rather spend that £50,000 on patients and patient care and their families. We now have to raise that additional amount of money to continue our services.

“We are going to have to be careful and make sure people are aware of what we can and can’t take.”

Hull Council was the only authority in the North to provide the service free for charities and Lib Dem councillor David Woods said the authority was being sent charity waste from as far away as Doncaster.

However, Labour group leader Daren Hale said the move was bound to lead to more flytipping because people had got used to the service. He added: “If the council has to collect all this rubbish it will cost it far more in the long run.

“It will also take vital income from the hospice, which is suffering from third-sector funding cuts and the recession.”