Tasmanians urged to think about donations during holiday clean out

Of the 1,800 tonnes of clothing, textiles and other materials (furniture, electrical goods, books and miscellaneous items) that the St Vincent de Paul Society Tasmania (Vinnies) receives annually in Tasmania, 358 tonnes are sent to landfill. 

That’s almost 20% of donations that Vinnies must take to the tip, simply because items are unusable, despite the great work done in recycling.

With Christmas traditionally a time for people to clean out their sheds and wardrobes, the Society wants Tasmanians to think about the suitability of what they donate, so landfill costs are kept to a minimum.

State President Corey McGrath said that while the Society is very appreciative of donations, volunteers are often confronted with general rubbish and very poor-quality items donated, especially around Christmas.

“Our retail network relies on donations, which in turn generates income that we use to assist Tasmanians in need,” he said.

“Through awareness, we are aiming for the donors to take ownership of their role in the donation grading process and imagine how these items might be re-used.”

While the issue of “waste” is a year-round issue, waste product donated to the Vinnies retail store network statewide over the holiday season soars compared to other times of year.

Mr McGrath said some retail teams (which are predominantly made up of volunteers) reported being unable to access their shops after the Christmas closure period, simply because of the mountain of soiled donations dumped by the public.

“Vinnies stores are often overwhelmed with donations that are unusable because of damage, contamination or excessive wear and tear,” he said.

“One of the most disheartening sights for our vollies on return after the Christmas break is mountains of material that have been left to pile up outside stores while team members enjoy a well-earned break. Even the best of donated items are of no use to us if they are left outside, particularly when they’re mingled with items that may be soiled. Dirty nappies and grass clippings are amongst the items left outside our stores during the brief closedown period,” said Mr McGrath.

“These unusable items quickly clog donation processing channels and impose a cost to Vinnies, in spite of the Tasmanian Government’s Charitable Recycler Rebate Program. This adds up to thousands of dollars annually in disposal fees, impacting the overall efforts of the Society which works hard to support those experiencing need across the community.”

“We do not believe that all waste product is donated knowing that it will end up in landfill, but we do believe that everyone can play an important role in helping out others experiencing hardship.”

“We welcome donations of good quality, usable items and are grateful for those that support us with generosity. Please don’t dump unwanted items - please consider the quality and only donate during operating hours.”

Background

Vinnies Retail Shops serve a number of objectives including:

• Provision of clothing and goods to the disadvantaged.
• Sale of affordable clothing and goods such as furniture, bric-a-brac and white goods.
• Income generation to support the delivery of aid and support to the disadvantaged.
• Collection points for donated clothing, good and food.
• Supporting infrastructure for other Vinnies activities such as sites (in some cases) for the provision of emergency relief.
• Source of raw materials for some of our support employment initiatives.

The retail stores sell recycled, discarded or surplus clothing and goods and are therefore an important part of the clothing, textile and household goods recycling system. 

Donated materials are generally sorted at the stores with A-grade material retained for sale in the stores or, in the case of excess stock, sent to the warehouses for re-distribution. B-grade and reject material is either sent to the warehouses or it may go directly to St Vincent Industries or Vincent Industries for rag production. From the warehouse, the material is sorted and either goes to rag production, export or landfill. 

Some donations that are received at the retail stores are soiled or damaged and sent to landfill. In the retail stores, material which does not sell may be sent back to the warehouses for further sorting and dispersal.

Bric-a-brac and miscellaneous items (CDs, accessories etc) that are damaged, soiled or otherwise unsuitable are sent to landfill. Electrical goods, furniture and books are either recycled or send to landfill. Clothing and textiles are sent for rag production, exports or may be sent to landfill.

St Vincent de Paul Society (Vinnies) receives approximately 1.3million kg of donated clothing/textiles and 480,000 kg of other goods and materials (furniture, electrical goods, bric-a-brac, books and miscellaneous).

While every effort is made to re-use clothing, textiles and other goods donated to SVDP, a considerable volume of materials is discarded or sent to landfill each year.  

For clothing and textiles, 40 per cent is sold in Vinnies stores, 49 per cent goes to B-grade, four per cent is used for emergency relief (services to disadvantaged) and seven per cent is sent to landfill. 

Of the other materials, 78 per cent is sold, 10 per cent is discarded, five per cent goes to emergency relief and five per cent is sent to landfill.  More than 248,000 kg of clothing and textiles and nearly 111,000 kg of other materials are sent to landfill annually.