Ontario Today HR 1 (CBC-R), National
25 Aug 03 AUDIENCE:528,000, 12:09, Length: 00:06:30, Ref# 31ECCB-2
Anchor/Reporters: HEATHER COHEN, JEAN CARTER

HEATHER COHEN (HOST): Well, you've seen them around town. They're drop-off bins where you can donate used clothing and furniture to charity. Charitable organizations have been using these boxes for well over 20 years, but it seems some of these donation boxes are getting a lot of unwanted stuff, garbage, to be more specific. Ontario Today's Jean Carter is in our Toronto studio now with this story. Hello, Jean.

JEAN CARTER: Hi, Heather.

COHEN: So outline the problem for me.

CARTER: Well, we're talking about those huge bins with the chutes. As you mentioned, people can drop off their used clothing, furniture, stuff they no longer need. Now organizations such as the Salvation Army operate these boxes. They turn around and donate these items to families that need them or the goods are sold in their thrift shops, and the money raised again goes to needy families. Now the problem is people are also dumping their garbage at these drop-off sites. I spoke to Captain Ken Kersey of the Salvation Army about this problem. He says it's been such an issue in the City of Brampton just west of Toronto that they've pulled all of their donation boxes.

KEN KERSEY: These boxes have been recalled now. We've had a real problem with people leaving household garbage and also construction sites leaving the waste from their construction site, and we've had people leave their kitchen garbage.

COHEN: You know, one wonders how intentional this is or if it's just kind of wrong-headedness or what. While the boxes were up, what was this costing the Salvation Army to deal with?

CARTER: Well, Heather, if you've ever called in someone to clear your basement, you know it's not cheap to send trash to the dump.

KERSEY: We're spending a simple fortune just toting this stuff to the landfill, and it's approximately anywhere from $90 to $100 each trip. For each load last year we spent $40,000 just handling the waste that people were leaving at our bins.

CARTER: What could the Salvation Army have done with $40,000?

KERSEY: Well, I can tell you the Salvation Army can do a lot with $40,000. We have to be so careful because the Salvation Army relies on the donations from the general public financially, and of course with our bins, and the Salvation is very careful with the public donations that come in. We run on a lot of volunteers and donations, financial donations, and so we have to be very careful and be very fastidious, I guess, on the donor dollar that comes in. We want to use that to the best of our ability to help people, not to cart garbage out to the landfill.

COHEN: Now with no drop-off boxes in Brampton, what would the Salvation Army be doing about collecting its donations around that area?

CARTER: It's had to change its collection methods, so instead of dropping off the stuff, people might have to call for a pick-up, but again, Heather, that's costing money the organization could put to better use.

KERSEY: We've increased our deliveries or pardon me, our pick-ups around the area from 10 per day to 30 per day. Right now we have a van and a truck, just two vehicles, and we've had to do that now because of the problem that we've had at our bins.

CARTER: And that also costs money to do these pick-ups.

KERSEY: Yes, it does. It costs money because there are drivers and swappers on the truck that you've got to do, of course the gas in the truck as well. That is a little cheaper than spending $40,000 to handle other people's waste.

COHEN: How are other organizations dealing with this problem of people basically misusing donation drop-off boxes?

CARTER: Well first, let's be clear: this is not just a problem in Brampton; it's a problem across the Greater Toronto Area and across the country. So it's an issue Goodwill has also had to deal with. Mitzi Hunter is Goodwill's VP of marketing.

MITZI HUNTER: At Goodwill we've moved away from donation boxes, and we actually are the only organization that has attended donations centres, so we have centres that are manned for eight hours a day where the community can come and drop off donations for Goodwill. When the lights go off, that's where we're experiencing problems in terms of people dropping off household waste, draft clippings, concrete, bags of pure garbage that they don't want to deal with, so unfortunately they're dumping it at our locations, and this is both at our retail stores as well as our donation centres, and that's an unfortunate cost to us as a charitable organization.

CARTER: She tells me Goodwill spends more than $50,000 a month on waste disposal across Southern and Eastern Ontario.

COHEN: So even attended donation sites, where there's a volunteer or a staff member right there, even they have problems. Is there anything these organizations can do?

CARTER: Well, Goodwill does have a pilot project with Peel Region Waste Management just west of Toronto. People there are encouraged to bring their items to the recycling centre. At the same time, they get some education as to what items can be reused.

HUNTER: Individuals are able to bring their disposable items directly to the waste management facility in Brampton, and right inside of that community recycling centre is a Goodwill reuse store. What that allows is that as individuals come in to dispose their hazardous wastes and other items, they're able to think about "What can we reuse; what can we resell rather than dumping it into our landfills?" and that is working very well. So far we've collecting over 300,000 pounds of textiles in the last 12 months, and that's simply by making it convenient for people to think about reuse rather than dumping their items.

CARTER: The message here is if people can make the effort to dump their garbage, they can make the effort to dispose of their waste properly.

COHEN: Yes, one would think so. Thanks very much for this, Jean.

CARTER: Thank you.

COHEN: Ontario Today's Jean Carter in Toronto. If you have experienced or witnessed something similar in your municipality, give us a call. Perhaps you work for one of those charitable organizations. Our number is 1-888-591-4111.

Media Contact:
Mitzie Hunter, Goodwill Toronto, (416) 362-4711