For Charity? For Profit?
Door to Door recycling drives may be organised by a charity but often are just being conducted by public waste collectors.
Some charities raise funds by hiring a Karung Guni to collect recyclables door to door on their behalf and they then take some of the profits from the collection.
Usually a flyer is distributed announcing the items wanted, the date of collection, and the beneficiary organisation. The flyer should also include the fundraising permit number when collection is for a charity.
Annoying?
The most common complaint with this service is that they do not collect what they say they will. See Accepted Items below for more info.
Scam?
There have been some reports of people distributing flyers with misleading or fraudulent information, falsely claiming to represent charities or using other dishonest tactics. This has caused some community members to become suspicious of these fundraising efforts.
It is, however, easy to verify the authenticity of these drives.
Whenever a collection is made for charitable purposes, the organization must ALWAYS have a valid fundraising permit. To confirm that the collection is a legitimate fundraiser, you can search for the permit number here. It's important to double-check that the permit number matches the location and dates of the collection.
Please note that sometimes, companies conducting for-profit door-to-door collections might use similar notices.
For more information on Fundraising Permits, see the NCSS website here.