Voluntary used-clothing collection collapses when the resale market that secretly funds it fails

The problem

The kerbside or car-park clothing bank looks like a free public recycling service. It is not. It is the front end of a commodity business: the operator collects mixed textiles, sorts them, sells the reusable fraction (historically much of it exported), and uses that revenue to cover collecting, sorting, hauling, and disposal of everything that cannot be sold. Roughly three in five collected items are reusable; the rest become rags, insulation, or stuffing at little or negative value. The whole model balances on the resale price of the good fraction.

When the resale market falls, the revenue that cross-subsidises the unsellable majority disappears — but handling costs do not. Each container flips from marginally profitable to a guaranteed loss. The rational response is to pull the container. The