30th August, 2011
For charitable recyclers, the end of Christmas is marked by dumping and 2011 was a bumper with the public in all states abusing our valuable services. Very clearly the unintended consequence of increased landfill charges, dumping this year was unprecedented in all states. A short summary of actions in various states is below.
Today Tonight covered dumping – “Charity plea” that can be found at this link.
The issue received unprecedented news coverage in newspapers and on television, particularly in Victoria. Donald Munroe-Sustainability Manager at Salvos Stores, valiantly answered many media enquiries. His interview with MTR137 can be heard at this link.
Disturbingly, the overall reaction by councils is to ban the donation bins. Summed up by Kurt Russell-Lifeline Mid North Coast Business Manager who said that “Removing charity bins will have a drastic effect on our revenue raising opportunities. The fact that a small percentage of the community willingly dump on us, by placing unsaleable larger items around our bins, is not the fault of the charities or the bins.”