LEWIS-Manning Hospice has revealed it is shelling out £10,000 a year to get rid of donations too poor to sell – cutting cash available to help patients.

The hospice at Lilliput has six shops and a furniture warehouse, which help raise the £40,000 needed each month to keep its free services going.

But because much of what is donated is not fit for sale it costs thousands in refuse bills and hours of volunteers’ time spent sorting rather than selling.

Elizabeth Purcell CEO of the hospice said: “I know that no one who donates to Lewis-Manning would want us to actually have a bill at the end of it but over £10,000 a year is spent paying to dispose of unsellable stuff.

“We have to get rid of so much tat it means less money towards the care of over 650 local people living with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses – that can’t be right.”

The hospice revealed the shocking figure in response to the new television series Mary, Queen of Charity Shops, in which retail guru, Mary Portas, sets out to spruce up charity shops. It uncovered that just 25 per cent of donations made are fit to be sold.

Inspired by this Lewis-Manning is encouraging people to adopt a “shopping neutral” approach – offsetting new purchases with the donation of good quality old ones.

Fund-raiser Dawn Morrison said: “Shopping neutral though, does not mean donating the moth-eaten jumper lost at the back of your wardrobe. It means giving something in good condition that just isn’t you anymore or that you know you’ve outgrown.

She added: “Next time you buy a new book, ornament, clothes or accessories take the equivalent item to one of our hospice shops.”