Locals have been left puzzled by an organisation appealing for old clothes, mobile telephones and laptops.
The 'Clothing Collection Team' (CCT) have been distributing plastic bags and accompanying flyers to residents in the Bellevue area recently.
Their leaflet reads: 'You can help people who really need support. The items that you donate will reach those who do not have possibility to purchase new footwear and clothing. All garments will be carefully sorted and worn again'.
The organisation also gratefully accepts kind donations of blankets and bed/household linen, curtains, towels, lingerie, toiletries, cosmetics and toiletries, but not books.
CCT's red-and-white plastic bags loosely resemble some of those already distributed by established national charities. However, despite this superficial similarity, the people behind the project work for a private company called Clothing Collection Team Ltd.
It was incorporated last August and has a registered address at 43 Jean Armour Drive in Dalkeith.
Two Melgund Terrace residents – concerned at the potential for mistaking CCT's bags for a charity's – contacted Spurtle yesterday. They had earlier phoned the company enquiring about its set-up. When they suggested it be clearer about its non-charitable status, they were told: 'We have a helpline if people want to find out'.
Spurtle rang the helpline number printed on the bag, and asked some questions of our own. A spokesperson told us that the man in charge is Mr Wokch Kopiuera who is out of the country at the moment. The spokesperson did not know when he would be back, how many employees the company had, or the extent and geographical location of its collections.
Donations, we were told, go to second-hand shops outside Great Britain, in Europe.
The spokesperson confirmed that Clothing Collection Team Ltd is not a charity, and reiterated that nowhere on its printed materials does it claim to be so.
Spurtle advises any readers who do not wish to donate via a private company to check all collection bags carefully before use.