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Even if the Salvation Army Thrift Store sold used mattresses, a better place for the “donation” to its Smiths Falls outlet Sunday would have been an incinerator. And whoever used that mattress last should still be soaking in bleach.

It was that disgusting. When resident Dave Pringle, a former social worker, spotted a young couple in a shiny new van dumping the filthy, ripped mattress in the drop-off area, he gave the two a piece of his mind.

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It’s just a mattress, they responded. What’s the big deal?

“They could have cared less,” says Pringle, well aware that much of the stuff dropped off on Sundays and after hours ends up costing the charity to have it hauled away to the dump.

As it turns out, Salvation Army stores throughout the Ottawa area are regularly used as dumping grounds for junk and even household waste. Tania Castonguay, manager of the Smiths Falls store, says bags containing kitchen garbage, cat litter and even tampons have turned up in donation bins. “It blows your mind,” says Castonguay.