CHIPPENHAM NEWS EXCLUSIVE: TONS of unwanted aid donated for the tsunami appeal will be thrown in the bin next week, relief bosses have warned.
More than 120 palettes of aid donated by Chippenham schools, households and charities destined for Sri Lanka has been sitting in an aircraft hangar for four months.
The Wiltshire Mercy Appeal warns it will bin hundreds of blankets, out-of-date food, water and tents if no one can get the aid to the tsunami-struck region.
The future of the aid now relies on a last-minute bid by supermarket chain Somerfield to pick the provisions up before it is thrown out.
Neil Gray, of the Wiltshire Mercy Appeal, said: "We are hoping to get it out to Sri Lanka next week but all we've been having is a lot of false promises.
"If it doesn't go by next week it's all going to recycled, dumped or given away.
"We must give the hangar back and we can't afford to keep all this stuff in here much longer.
"We have been to other charities but they don't want it."
Somerfield is hoping to send a lorry to the aircraft hangar in Wroughton, near Swindon, next week to pick up the last of the aid and take it to Islamic Relief in Birmingham.
But the Wiltshire Mercy Appeal had earlier blamed the supermarket bosses for pulling out of a deal, which would have taken the aid to Sri Lanka months ago.
Justin Oliver, of the Wiltshire Mercy Appeal, said: "What we achieved was history in the making. We had 850 volunteers, it's amazing.
"But all this goodwill is being wasted. People are forgetting that Sri Lanka still needs supplies."
Wasted aid includes baby food, tents, blankets, clothes and food fast approaching its use by date.
Alex Duffey, chairman of the Wiltshire Mercy Appeal, said: "The amount of aid we have processed has been phenomenal. Even if we have to scrap the bits that are left over it would have been a small price to pay."
The hangar will be handed back to the Science Museum next week.
Somerfield denied it pulled out of an agreement to take the aid to Sri Lanka earlier this year, which cause the last-minute scramble.
Spokesman Peter Williams said: "We never actually pledged to the Wiltshire Mercy Appeal we would take the aid in the first place.
"The message from the aid charities in Asia is that they don't need these kinds of supplies, they need cash."
Unwanted toys have already been handed to Chippenham Community Hospital, Great Western Hospital in Swindon and Bath RUH.
Volunteers from Sheldon Secondary School, Wiltshire Colleges Chippenham and Lackham and local Lions clubs all helped the aid appeal in January.
Further aid includes supplies raised from sponsored walks in Calne and Chippenham.
Gerald MacMahon, headteacher at Sheldon Secondary School, said: "The children will be disappointed but we appreciate the difficulties of organising this, sometimes the cost of flying the aid out there can be more valuable than the aid itself. We hope a national charity can sort this out and facilitate transport."
George Bright, principal at Wiltshire College Chippenham, said: "We had car loads of aid collected by staff and students and we would be very disappointed if some of this aid gets destroyed."
The Boxing Day tsunami killed 300,000 people and led to an unprecedented aid effort in the UK.
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