Torn clothes, blood-stained underwear and smelly socks – these are the state of clothes “donation” for victims affected by the recent devastating floods in the Klang Valley.

The flood, slow to recede in many areas, caused massive destruction of property in parts of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. Many were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

When calls for donation came in, generous Malaysians were quick to respond. Sadly, many seemed to have mistaken it for an opportunity to declutter their homes and get rid of old or unwanted items.

Some have no qualms dumping old, tattered and unwashed clothes into big, black garbage bags and dropping them off at flood relief centres.

Imagine having lost everything you own, almost overnight. Now, to add insult to injury, the aid you receive is dumped unceremoniously across the floor in flood relief centres in heaping piles like garbage. You would have to wade through these mountains of old, musty clothes to find something you can actually use – an experience not unlike that of slum dwellers rummaging through garbage at a landfill.

The chairman of the Pandan Prihatin Association Aini Ahmed said the NGO was battling with the same problem at their operation centre in Pandan Indah, Kuala Lumpur.

“I can tell you that for every 1,000kg of clothes received, about 30 percent are torn or in tatters and smell really bad. They’re fit only for the garbage.

“This is hugely frustrating for us because as volunteers, we are working against the clock. We need to channel aid as fast as we can but now we find ourselves having to waste a lot of time just sifting through these mountains of clothes to find usable ones to give flood victims,” she told Bernama in an interview.

SORT, THEN DONATE

Aini said her team had to engage a large number of manual labour to ensure that only truly wearable clothes are set aside for donation.

“We needed a lot of hands to help sort the clothes by size and type because this would make the distribution process more efficient.

“The recipients’ smile and gratitude, however, made us feel like it was definitely worth our while,” she said of the all-female NGO.

They did not dump the hundreds of kilogramme of unsuitable clothes left. Instead, they sought a sustainable and green solution by handing it over to another NGO that recycles fabric.

The Pandan chapter of the NGO, established in November 2013, have so far helped flood victims in the Klang Valley, Mentakab and Temerloh (Pahang) as well as Negeri Sembilan.

NOT A GARBAGE DUMP

Selangor disaster emergency management operations manager Shehdi Hazrik Shamsudin said that of all contributions received for flood victims in Selangor, clothes donations topped the list. The amount was so overwhelming that it resulted in a host of other problems.

“It’s not that we aren’t grateful for the generosity. It’s just that some people are using our relief mission as a “garbage dump” to rid their homes of old and decaying clothes.

“In the end, their “donation” just becomes additional junk littering an area that is already inundated with flood waste,” he said.

The Solid Waste Corporation of Malaysia (SWCorp) is cognisant of the issue. Its Strategic Planning Division Director Hazahar Hashim said they were ready to provide a solution but understood the need to proceed delicately.

SWCorp could not simply swoop in and help sort out the donations, he said, as the public could misinterpret the action as a move to discard donations intended for flood victims.

“People know us as a waste management company. If they see us moving these donated clothes, they would assume that we were going to dispose of them. However, if the local or state authorities were to request it, the matter could be sorted out easily.

“We see many ways of dealing with this (used clothes dump), such as for upcycling projects run by our strategic partners,” said Hazahar, who is also the Selangor SWCorp post-flood operations chief.

NO COORDINATION

Despite major floods being an almost annual occurrence in Malaysia, there has yet to be any form of inter-agency coordination in handling flood relief donations.

From observation, said Hazahar, the lack of such coordination and strategic management of donated clothes was the reason the donations end up among the piles of flood waste.

“In some places, donated clothes are dumped at unsuitable locations such as under canopies or at bus stops. The clothes are exposed to sun and rain and eventually becomes damaged.

“There’s also little effort to ensure the aid goes directly to the recipient. Some NGOs simply dump donations at a location and leave flood victims to their own devices, without any guide or help,” he said.

Hazahar said SWCorp was ready to offer its services as a coordinating agency for such efforts, should such situation arise again in the future.

“It’s not that we’re wishing for another flood to take place, but should another disaster occur and there is a need to collect clothes for victims, SWCorp is willing to coordinate the effort.

“We already have a kiosk and used clothes collection centres in certain states. We also have access to NGOs and strategic partners that could help aid the effort,” he said.