Charities face garbage overload

Some Canadian charities are wasting time and money getting rid of piles of garbage and unusable goods left in donation bins and outside thrift store outlets.

In New Glasgow, N.S.,a community of about 10,000 people, the local Salvation Army is spending $1,200 a month getting rid of useless trash left at its thrift store.

"That $1,200a month that they are spending on tipping fees and hauling away the useless donations and outright garbage is money that's taken away from direct delivery of service,"Salvation Army national spokesman Andrew Burditt told CBC News.

"It's taken away from Salvation Army social service programs. And that's not good and it's unfortunate."

In Edmonton, Salvation Army staff say only 40 per cent of the goods dropped off can be used at thrift shops. Burditt says that number is not out of line for other locations in Canada.

'It's a significant problem for Goodwill.' Brian Kellow, Goodwill

The Edmonton office of the Salvation Army spent $60,000 getting rid of trash last year.

Goodwill has had to take extraordinary measures to keep the trash off its doorstep.

"It's a significant problem for Goodwill, but we've made some big changes to address it and the first one of those is that we don't actually have donation bins anymore," Brian Kellow of Goodwill told CBC News.

At some locations. piles of useless junk are dumped outside Goodwill thrift stores and staff spend the first hour of their day cleaning up.

"In some locations we have put fencing up and television monitors to ensure that people don't come and dump overnight. We put signs up. And then we've actually hired overnight security guards to let people know that they can come back and bring their donations during business hours," he said.

Both charities say they don't want to discourage people from making donations. Rather, they want people to be more sensible about the things they decide to leave at the outlets.

"You don't want to speak ill of people that want to donate and do good. But the problem is, perhaps the reason your toaster isn't working is because it's broken and can't be fixed," said Burditt.

Kellow says there's an easy rule-of-thumb to follow when deciding whetherto discard an item or donate it to a charity: "When they're participating in that process of reusing and reselling, that they imagine a customer at the end of the line that's going to take it."