Charity dumping causes concern

A Swan Hill woman has voiced her concerns about the amount of rubbish which has been dumped at charity donation bins in recent days.

Deanne Frame said she was “disgusted” after she discovered the dumped items at the Red Cross donation bins on McCallum Street on Sunday morning.

She returned to the site in the afternoon to find more household items had been dumped at the site, including a couch and some chairs.

“Not only that, but someone had been rifling through it all and spreading the clothes on the ground,” Ms Frame said.

“The bin specifically says if it does not fit in the slot, don’t leave it.

“They also state that no mattresses or large pieces of furniture can be accepted.”

It costs $20 to dump a mattress at the Swan Hill tip.

Prices to dump other rubbish start at $11.20 for a car boot of items.

The Swan Hill Rural City Council can issue fines of up to $610,700 for individuals caught illegally dumping rubbish or other items.

Items such as fridges, televisions and washing machines can be taken to the tip for free.

Swan Hill Red Cross manager Val Parsons said people dumping unwanted items at their charity bins was a “big problem”.

“Every Monday our volunteers pick up the donations and whatever is dumped and take it back to the store,” Ms Parsons said.

“We can’t get rid of the big stuff. Sometimes we burn the mattresses and put the things we don’t want into our skip bin.”

She said another problem they faced was people taking items from the donation piles.

“It’s actually stealing from us,” she said.

“The people who rifle through it make such a mess and don’t like to clean it back up.”

To curb the problem, Ms Parsons suggested that the council should advertise which items they accepted at the tip for free.

“The council and tip should put a sign up at our bin saying they will take the big items,” she said.

Swan Hill Rural City Council director of infrastructure Oliver McNulty said council’s waste and local laws team would discuss how they might be able to help “overcome this issue”.

“There are already a number of alternative options available for hard waste disposal in Swan Hill,” Mr McNulty said.

“Many hard waste items can be disposed of for free at the Swan Hill landfill seven days a week, including white goods, scrap metal, bricks, used motor oil, computer monitors and televisions.”

Mr McNaulty said other items such as furniture, household items and building products could be donated to The Big Green Shed for re-sale.

To read more about this story, grab a copy of Wednesday’s Guardian (March 29).