'Bloody disgraceful': Outrage over 'rubbish' left in front of donation bins
There are calls for Australians to stop trying to donate clothes in already full donation bins as charity stores across the country close and regular collections drop due to the coronavirus.
Unpleasant scenes have been spotted at collection hubs, with piles of clothing shown sprawled across the ground in one Queensland shopping centre’s car park next to a row of bins.
The sight was described “bloody disgraceful” by a woman in Redcliffe, north of Brisbane, after she encountered a mess outside the Bluewater Square shopping centre on Monday.
Taking her outrage to a local Facebook group, the woman slammed those responsible for the unsightly display, saying it was “Un-Australian to leave your rubbish lying around like this”.
“If you’ve done a spring clean, good on you, but don’t leave your s**t for others to clean up,” she wrote.
She was not alone in her frustration, with several others criticising the “grubs” that created the mess.
“Some people are so lazy and don’t care that all this rubbish costs the charities thousands of dollars to clean up,” one person pointed out.
Many charity stores have had to close due to the coronavirus, meaning fewer collections are being made.
The company responsible for the management of such clothing bins, SCR Group, said dumping of clothes had become a huge issue since the outbreak of COVID-19.
“We have seen an unprecedented surge in illegal dumping instances,” national executive Alexis Todorovski told Yahoo News Australia.
The company works in partnership with Lifeline to manage the Redcliffe site, which due to the pandemic has dropped its collection service to just twice a week.
Ms Todorovski said lately there had been a significant increase in vandalism and illegal dumping at the bins, which cost Lifeline more than $1000 each time it needed to clean up or repair locks.
“That charity shop has been closed for about three weeks now, so they’re running on limited resources,” she said.
‘Hold on to donations for later’
People were encouraged not to leave donations at full bins and instead were asked to call the hotline number listed on their label and return after they had been serviced.
Some donation hubs have been chained up to stop people using them, however there are many still operating and people were still sorting through clothing to be eventually sold in charity shops.
The National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations has pleaded with Australians to cease leaving donations at bins or shopfronts, as they cannot be be used and become classified as litter.
“The charity then has to pay a waste contractor to remove the waste,” CEO Omer Soker said earlier this month.
He urged people that wanted to donate items to do so in-store, or in a donation bin that was not already full.
“If you can’t leave your home and must stay inside, please save up your quality donations for later,” he said.
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