Susan Clarke has worked at a Tasmanian opportunity shop for 16 years and has never seen so many donations — but it’s not all good news, ABC News reports.
Op shops across Tasmania are once again being inundated with trash, mostly from COVID-19 lockdown clean outs.
Some councils, including the Hobart City Council, have also stopped offering free landfill disposal for charities due to their own pandemic revenue losses.
Rubbish items like stained and ripped clothing, soiled bedding, broken furniture and unusable electrical parts are pilling up in the storage hallway beside the Zions Hill Op Shop, at Ravenswood in northern Tasmania.
Volunteers at the small independent store have started sorting through the donations, but the rubbish has piled up.
“People don’t like to buy things that are broken, torn, stained and we’re still getting that sort of thing,” Ms Clarke said.
“Some people maybe can’t afford it or others just can’t be bothered to pay the tip fees, so they sneak it into the bags and just hope we will get rid of it for them.
“We’re slowly getting rid of it by getting a wheelie bin, but even that is costly because you need to rent the bin, pay for the tonnage.
“It takes away from the monetary donations that we raise.”
Many independent op shops, like Zions Hill, can’t resell electrical goods, as they don’t have the resources to test and tag them.
The charity, like many others, also does not have the resources or water bill relief to wash dirty clothing.
Volunteer Vanessa Clarke said it was an upsetting situation.
“We are such a consumer society and though we want to help the society, there’s only so much we can take on to reuse,” Ms Clarke said.
FULL STORY
If you wouldn’t buy it, don’t donate it, say charities struggling under piles of junk donations (ABC News)