Op shops forced to dispose of tonnes of unsaleable items

OPPORTUNITY shops across the region are struggling to keep up with the ongoing issue of illegal rubbish dumping at their volunteer-run collection sites.

For All Saints Op Shop in Barwon Heads, things came to a head earlier this month, when it was forced to dispose of more than 1,300kg of unsaleable clothing and linen in just a three-week period.

Over the past two months, this figure has ballooned to more than 3,200kg in unsaleable clothing and 430kg in unsaleable shoes, costing the small church-run operation up to $1,000 a month to dispose.

Despite signage and CCTV, electronics, furniture and out-of-date car seats are also frequently dumped at the Hitchcock Avenue site.

 

 

“The rubbish is every week,” op shop co-ordinator Margaret Powell said.

“That’s all expense for us. All op shops have got the same problem.”

A tour of the op shop’s sorting room shows a pile of unsaleable items still being processed by its team of just 30 volunteers, including baby clothes covered in faeces, mould-covered lawn chairs and a lump of concrete that may once have been a bird bath.

Sorting room co-ordinator Chris Wheal said instances of rubbish dumping were on the rise, with All Saints now disposing of three large bins of rubbish every week, rather than two each month.

 

 

She believes laziness might be at play and encouraged community members to think twice before dumping their items on local charity shops.

“We’re very, very grateful for what they give us, if it is clean and usable,” Ms Wheal said.

“But just be very conscious that it’s costing charities money to get rid of stuff. It cuts our distribution for people in need down by $12,000 a year.”

She expressed concern that the City of Greater Geelong may no longer have the resources available to help op shops like All Saints tackle the problem.

 

 

Anthony Basford, the City of Greater Geelong’s executive director of city life, said the council has maintained its resources to assist all residents and businesses with litter dumping issues.

He said items dumped on the property of op shops was the responsibility of the relevant business to remove.

“If a person is able to be identified, council can either request that the items be removed by that person or seek to recover any cost incurred by the business in court,” Mr Basford said.

“We have typically found that businesses can minimise this type of activity through prominent signage which displays what is and isn’t acceptable as donations.

“The signage should also state that donations can only be made during their hours of operation, with donations outside these hours deemed as litter and investigated as such.”