A Salvos store has been left to deal with mountains of garbage dumped outside its store as volunteers returned from a long weekend.
The Salvation Army store in Salisbury, in Adelaide‘s northern suburbs, spent hours on Tuesday cleaning up the illegally dumped rubbish.
David Waylen, a business associate operating next door, said that it was the worst case of trash being left there that he had ever seen.
Multiple shopping trolleys were left heaped with clothes and piles of baby gear sat next to a bin, none of which could be accepted due to strict donation laws.
Any donations need to be put in the donation bins to be accepted by charities, which meant that Salvos was also left with the bill to dispose of the wasted goods.
Salisbury’s Salvos, in Adelaide, recorded the worst case of illegal dumping volunteers had ever seen, with trolleys overflowing with used goods they could not accept
David Waylen, a neighbouring business associate, said that the piles of garbage were stacked head-height when he saw them on Tuesday morning
Mr Waylen said the piles of good were stacked as high as his head when he first saw them.
‘There is really no excuse as to why this is happening,’ he told 7News.
The unknown culprits had lined the entire front of the store with garbage and tucked the overflowing trolleys around the corner, away from the donation bins.
Dumping used goods or garbage outside of a charity store is illegal, but it is unlikely that anyone will be caught since the Salvos’ security camera had been stolen.
‘The Salvos are so good and it’s disgusting for people to leave their stuff which they don’t want,’ one angry local said.
The Salisbury Salvation Army does not accept any donations after hours, but that has not stopped the illegal dumping which has been happening for years.
A Salisbury City community group tried to address the issue on its social media page in 2021, but so far their request has fallen on deaf ears.
‘Reminder: The Salvos Store in John Street (and Judd Lane) DOES NOT accept after hours donations,’ it said in a post.
‘There is no facility for after hours collection, so if you leave items there after hours, then this will be considered as ILLEGAL DUMPING and is subject to fines under Council By-Laws.
‘Sadly over most weekends this area is trashed by people dumping goods that cannot be resold, sort through bags of items and they are then strewn across the public footpath and carpark.’
At the time this update was posted, volunteers of the store claimed to be losing hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars per year cleaning up the mess.
In South Australia, it is illegal to dispose of waste in a public location without permits under the Local Nuisance and Litter Control Act 2016.
On the spot fines can range between $210 to $1,000 if anyone is caught doing so.
The Salisbury Salvation Army does not accept donations after hours, but that has not stopped people from continually doing so for years
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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