What the salvos do with charity bin dumpings

ML-585 said :

Define *huge*.

I can only find the fines for nsw, but i assume ACT is similar

$60 for littering (small items)
$200 general littering

If the fine was double that, most of which was given to that charity – it might send a message to the community that Charity Bin Dumping isnt appropriate.

I think an even larger fine for mattresses and furniture would be even better

Jethro said :

dvaey said :

I also have to wonder if they considered sorting the rubbish and maybe offloading stuff to tinys green shed or revolve/aussie junk? Just because stuff is unsellable for them, doesnt mean its unsellable for anyone, especially if the ‘anyone’ is prepared to take it off your hands for free rather than you paying to take it to the tip. After all, if sorting rubbish is good enough for the rest of us, why isnt it good enough for the salvos?

This is one of the stupidest things I have read on here for a long time. To expect the Salvation Army to spend money sorting the trash that people are to cheap to pay to dispose of themselves is ridiculous. You’re post almost seems angry at the Salvos that they don’t want people putting crap all around their donation bins.

I disagree.
Most Salvo’s and other like places are staffed with volunteers (and some people on rehab courses or bonds etc) so hardly PAYING to sort stuff.
Trash is another thing I would like deciphered.
We used to always buys bags of rags for $12 per garbage bag from Salvo’s. Ripped clothing, ruined sheets etc. Also dog blankets which range from ripped blankets to stained doonas.

Most of that junk looks like boxes/bags that stuff would have been dropped off in.

Just because we think someones broken pram is garbage doesn’t mean everyone thinks it is. I remember they days when finding a broken pram was like finding GOLD because the wheels were far better than lawn mower wheels when making a billy cart!!

For the prices that most Salvo’s charge you would think they could sort/price a bit better. Funny how they have used school shirts with broken buttons etc for $7 and brand new ones next door are only $5.

At my local shops, people don’t even seemed too shy about dumping crap around the bins. Maybe I should start taking the camera and loading up a few shots

Jethro said :

dvaey said :

I also have to wonder if they considered sorting the rubbish and maybe offloading stuff to tinys green shed or revolve/aussie junk? Just because stuff is unsellable for them, doesnt mean its unsellable for anyone, especially if the ‘anyone’ is prepared to take it off your hands for free rather than you paying to take it to the tip. After all, if sorting rubbish is good enough for the rest of us, why isnt it good enough for the salvos?

This is one of the stupidest things I have read on here for a long time. To expect the Salvation Army to spend money sorting the trash that people are to cheap to pay to dispose of themselves is ridiculous. You’re post almost seems angry at the Salvos that they don’t want people putting crap all around their donation bins.

I don’t think this is a stupid comment at all. Charities do seem to very picky as to what they will accept, and under-estimate what people will find a use for for a suitably cheap price. Fine if they don’t want to give shop space to stuff they can’t sell for much, but why not let someone else have the stuff they don’t want rather than dumping it. They could have an arrangement with someone like Revolve to pick up every Monday afternoon, or simply let the public in to pick over the unwanted stuff once a week. Only the truly unusable items should be sent to the tip.

That’s the beauty of hard rubbish collections in cities that have them. By the time the entire neighbourhood has picked over everyone else’s discards, there is very little left to go to landfill. Recycling at it’s best.

Going back to the charities, the reality is that most of their donations will come on the weekend, because that’s when working people have time to take things to the collection point. If they *want* the donations, perhaps they could make it easier for people to make them e.g. having stores open for part of the weekend.

Davo111 said :

What would be interesting is if there was a law against placing rubbish around those bins, supported by a *huge* fine. It might be an incentive not to dump crap out there.

Define *huge*. There already is a law against placing rubbish around charity bins (it’s called littering). Refer here: http://www.tams.act.gov.au/live/recycling-waste/options/recycling_reusable_items/charities

I agree with grail’s comment, they’re between a rock and a hard place.

My guess is they get most of their donations via the bins, so having a store drop off only method would reduce the number of donations. However, having the bins results in a tonne of rubbish.

What would be interesting is if there was a law against placing rubbish around those bins, supported by a *huge* fine. It might be an incentive not to dump crap out there.

There has been so many people that have dumped their rubbish at the bins, that I’m beginning to think they should do away with the charity bins.

I wonder what the effect would be on the charities if they removed the charity bins completely and only had the option to drop off at a store. The vinnies at Gungahlin has a wheelie bin out the front, the last lot of clothes we donated I just dropped straight in there. I think those that are genuine and are dropping off useful items would go out of their way.

Strange scene at St Vinnies Dickson today – a mother&daughter pair of probable hoarders arrived and donated 20 huge plastic bags of nondescript cr*p (cleanish), and leaned three worn rugs up against the bins outside in the rain. OK that was nice of them to donate – but then they went around the shop and bought an enormous quantity (two bags each) of more similar random cr*p! (little plastic thinggies, nondescript china, $2 clothes … ).

dvaey said :

I also have to wonder if they considered sorting the rubbish and maybe offloading stuff to tinys green shed or revolve/aussie junk? Just because stuff is unsellable for them, doesnt mean its unsellable for anyone, especially if the ‘anyone’ is prepared to take it off your hands for free rather than you paying to take it to the tip. After all, if sorting rubbish is good enough for the rest of us, why isnt it good enough for the salvos?

This is one of the stupidest things I have read on here for a long time. To expect the Salvation Army to spend money sorting the trash that people are to cheap to pay to dispose of themselves is ridiculous. You’re post almost seems angry at the Salvos that they don’t want people putting crap all around their donation bins.

PBO said :

dvaey said :

So, do they get charged the same amount as the public, or are they charged commercial rates?

I remember they used to get a special rate but that may have changed as they are a bunch of money grabbing thieves.

Uhhh…which “they” are you referring to? Are you saying the Salvos are money grubbing thieves?

Is it what the ACT Government charges to dump stuff at the landfill that has caused this problem or are people just lazy and dump stuff at the local “charity bin”? I can’t recall seeing so much rubbish at shopping centres when you could take your rubbish to the Tip and not pay a fee.

I recently paid a guy $25 to take my old monitor to the tip. He said I could just dump it in the recycle bin but of course I didn’t. I had some other rubbish to remove (which he charged me for too, plus his time and petrol!) but the $25 fee for a monitor not the full computer was a bit much!

dvaey said :

So, do they get charged the same amount as the public, or are they charged commercial rates?

I remember they used to get a special rate but that may have changed as they are a bunch of money grabbing thieves.

St Vinnie’s at tuggeranong get me simply because i rarely get to an op shop during the week and don’t want to dump outside a full bin, so I go to Vinnies. they have a hole in the wall that you can put stuff in all day andn night. Now, it might attract just as much junk from bogans seeing an opportunity for an easy free dump to get rid of stuff, but good stuff that goes into a building is surely better than rotting and getting ruined should it rain. I don’t drop off junk – i only donate reusable stuff.

Charities are fined if they don’t clean up the crap that people dump around the collection bins so have no choice but to gather it all up and take it to the tip. Chances are that, if it is left outside the collection bins, it will be picked over by others and/or ruined by exposure to the weather before the charity even gets to it.

So, do they get charged the same amount as the public, or are they charged commercial rates?

I have to wonder how much of this stuff was simply dumped outside of bins, and how much is stuff they received appropriately, but have decided not to sell? I also have to wonder if they considered sorting the rubbish and maybe offloading stuff to tinys green shed or revolve/aussie junk? Just because stuff is unsellable for them, doesnt mean its unsellable for anyone, especially if the ‘anyone’ is prepared to take it off your hands for free rather than you paying to take it to the tip. After all, if sorting rubbish is good enough for the rest of us, why isnt it good enough for the salvos?

The last time I was out at the tip, there were signs everywhere warning visitors to stay on THAT side of the concrete wall.. how was this picture taken from the middle of the no-go zone?

I think that you will find that it has probably come from a deceased estate or government housing unit. I even dare say that most of it would have been too damaged to sell or there is too much of it in storage.

This was a daily occurence when i worked there, nothing to see here.

I drove through campbell the other day and someone had a suitcase not unlike the non-floral one in the foreground sitting on top of their recycling bin.

I wonder if they think the recycling truck driver would be so excited at the prospect of getting his hands on someones used suitcase or they are just plain idiots. Reminded me of the time someone at a flat I was living in but their scummy old seat covers in the recycling bin.

Do people think their crap is taken away for people to sort through looking for things to give to poor people?

Sadly, they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Either spend donations to dump lazy bastards’ crap at the dump, or leave it lying around the collection hoppers.

If only lazy bastards weren’t so lazy, or weren’t such bastards.