Illegal dumping has cost one Highlands charity $80,000 this financial year alone.
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The surprising figure was released by a St Vincent de Paul spokesman, who said the Mittagong, Bowral and Moss Vale branches all spent thousands of dollars disposing of waste a year.
The Mittagong location of St Vincent de Paul again had items dumped at its store illegally over the weekend of March 16 and 17. This was despite the Wingecarribee Shire Council placing new signage around the charity bins in September to deter people from dumping outside the bins.
According to the spokesman roughly 80 per cent of goods donated the right way are put into their stores, but if goods are left outside the bins that number falls to just 20 per cent. This is typically because the goods were broken, unsafe or unhygienic. The responsibility of discarding these unfit goods then falls to the charity, which has to pay to get rid of the unsuitable items.
Council reminds residents to be considerate when donating to local charities, and reinforces that dumping goods illegally carries a minimum on the spot fine of $2000, but penalties can reach up to $250,000.
The Vinnies spokesman said the charity still accepted donations, but urged the public to go about it in the right way. "Either bring your items into the store during business hours or place the items inside the designated charity bins, not around them," they said.
Are you unsure what fits the bill to donate?
The general rule of thumb is that you should only donate items that you would give to a friend.