Rubbish dumped at the Pakenham Op Shop bin recently.Pakenham Op Shop’s Barb Cook and Bruce Plummer among donated items that they are about to take to the tip. By Sarah Schwager
PAKENHAM Opportunity Shop volunteers are appealing to locals to stop dumping rubbish at the store.
They say time and money is being wasted sorting through piles of rubbish and taking it to the tip.
Pakenham Opportunity Shop president Barb Cook said the problem had got a lot worse in the last two years.
“A volunteer has to take it to the tip. It costs $28 each load.”
Ms Cook said people left broken and dirty items, old pillows and mattresses, and electrical items, none of which they could sell.
She said each mattress cost $20 for the shop to unload.
She said a notice on the front of the store, expressly pleading for people not to donate electrical goods, had been ignored by donors.
Volunteer Jan Veli said they very much appreciated people donating to the op shop but sorting through piles of rubbish took time that could be used doing other things.
“We don’t want rubbish. We get a lot of stuff that’s chipped and broken, which we can’t sell,” Ms Veli said.
“A lot of it is not washed as well.”
She said they received bags of broken toys with parts missing, only a small amount of which they could sell.
“It’s not that we don’t appreciate what we’re getting. A lot of the stuff is very good,” Ms Veli said. “But sorting through the rubbish is so time consuming.
“Sometimes you don’t know if you should be putting your hand in it, to tell the truth.
“Why don’t they put it in their own bin?”
She said shoes with the soles missing and holes in them and paintstained and ripped shirts were commonly donated items.
Volunteer Bruce Plummer has to make regular trips to the tip at a cost to the shop.
Ms Cook said: “That’s money that could be spent on other things.
“It’s somebody else that’s missing out.”
Ms Cook said the donation bin used to be at the Pakenham Fire Station but they had moved it to the back of the op shop.
“We thought it was hidden enough that we wouldn’t get the rubbish but we still do,” she said.
All proceeds of goods sold at the shop go to Cardinia Shire charities, including the State Emergency Service (SES) and various local fire brigades.
