A BAHRAIN-based company specialised in recycling old clothes while donating new ones to families in need is ramping up its charity efforts this Ramadan.
Kiswa Bahrain is planning to hold a charity fair where underprivileged families can choose from 5,000 donated pieces for free.
Branch manager Sayed Mahdi Alawi told the GDN that the dates for the event had yet to be finalised.
Kiswa, an Emirati company with offices in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman, was launched in Bahrain in April last year. It takes clothes that you no longer need in exchange for a financial reward, or gives the reward directly to its partner charities. It has collected a total of 4,241,012 pieces of clothing and 60,850 clients Gulf-wide since its inception in the UAE in 2015.
According to Mr Alawi, around 1,500 to 2,000 donation requests are made in Bahrain every month.
Once collected, clothes are divided into three categories depending on their condition: New, acceptable and ‘scrap’ that are not good enough to be donated to people.
Nearly two tonnes of scrap material are shipped to the UAE each month after the ‘good stuff’ are sorted in a warehouse in Bahrain.
“We set aside new clothes to give them to underprivileged Bahraini families through co-operation with charity societies,” Mr Alawi told the GDN.
People who wish to donate can contact Kiswa’s call centre or submit a request on either the website or mobile application, he said, and a representative will pick up the material in one to two days.
“Why should we throw out clothes if we could just recycle them?” Mr Alawi said.
“Clothes take a long time to decompose and can create toxic by-products when tossed in the garbage.”
Once the new clothes are set aside, scrap materials are sent to Sharjah for the first phase of processing, the branch manager explained. After that, they are sent to a factory in Mersin in southern Türkiye, where they are sorted piece-by-piece and eventually recycled into spools of thread.
“People love products made from recycled materials. However, they aren’t usually sold in the region – Bahrain is simply a collection point,” he said, adding that they are often sent to Europe to be made into new products.
According to him, 10 charity societies have so far signed an agreement with Kiswa since its launch in Bahrain, with four more set to join.
“In November, we ran a donation drive where 600 pieces of winter clothing were donated to nearly 100 families through the Al Kawther Society for Orphan Care,” he said.
“We did not expect such an engagement from the community,” he said, adding that he and his wife Zahra Al Shaikh worked day and night to sort the donations.
With Ramadan around the corner, Mr Alawi said plans were underway for a charity fair in Bahrain.
“Kiswa will give each charity society coupons, which it will distribute to families in need in the areas they serve,” he said.
“The families can redeem the coupon at the fair and receive three to four pieces of clothing per member. Most of the clothes donated are new and from renowned brands.
“We will soon open our office in the Seef Area, with more charity activities to come.”
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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