EDMONTON- A couple of local charities are voicing their frustrations over the growing number of unusable items being left at their clothing donation bins.

“It is an extremely frustrating entity that we have to deal with. We are dealing with cleaning up other people’s garbage,” said Maureen Stewart with the Canadian Diabetes Association’s Edmonton branch. “This is an ongoing issue within the City of Edmonton at all drop boxes for charities.”

“Folks are coming up to the bins and they’re just unloading either their garage sale items or just items that they want to get rid of that they themselves don’t want to take to the landfills,” added Mezaun Evin, the associate executive director of the Cerebral Palsy Association in Alberta.

Both charities have donation boxes set up in several locations across Alberta, to collect mainly clothing items. Both Stewart and Evin say the bins are major fundraisers for their respective charities.

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However, both women say they have come across many items their organizations simply can’t use.

“We have found, unfortunately, dead dogs that have been dumped off at our Dawson Creek bins that we service three times a week. We have found old furniture, household garbage and anything else that should be landfill-destined,” Stewart explained.

Evin says staff have also found items dumped outside the bins, even when the bins are empty. She says it’s frustrating to see, especially when the items could have be used by her organization.

“If it rained, it would get wet. Or the elements would come to it and it’s greasy and dusty. Clearly, we’re not able to use this,” she explained. “We’re grateful to those who drop off their donations, but it just takes an extra step to put it in the bin. That’s why we have the bins.”

Evin says abuse of the charity’s bins is something staff have always dealt with, but the problem has picked up over the past year.

Not only does it deter others from donating, Stewart says it’s a very costly process for staff to collect the unusable items and take them to the landfill.

“We are pulling money from research, we are pulling it from kid’s camps, we’re pulling it from advocacy and education just to fund taking those items to the dump.”

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“The other problem that we, and many of the other charities are encountering, is that businesses have so graciously allowed us to use their parking lots for bins and when this happens we have to remove those bins. And as it stands right now, this location has asked us to remove our bins because very much of what’s happening here,” Evin added.

A similar problem is also being faced at several City of Edmonton recycling depots.

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With files from Vinesh Pratap, Global News.