SCAVENGERS BEWARE
Furniture and household items damaged by the recent flood take up the entire lawn of a South Windsor home on Tuesday. With the disposed goods come the pickers who look for anything that can be used or resold. Not a good idea, says the WindsorEssex County Health Unit.
It’s as inevitable as that musty smell coming from your flooded basement: the garbage pickers.
They emerge as weary residents haul their soggy possessions to the curb. They cruise slowly down devastated neighbourhoods and stop their vans and trucks to pick through the mounds of mementos, boxes and furniture. Very bad idea. “There’s a concern this stuff could be contaminated right? You don’t know if it was in sewage water or not. So we’re discouraging residents from scavenging so to speak,” Jason Moore, the city’s senior manager of communications and customer service, said Tuesday.
As of Friday, Windsor’s 311 call centre had received 4,660 basement flooding reports. Tecumseh had 160 homes affected and Lakeshore, which at first estimated about 400 homes, found there was some duplication and now has about 300 homes affected.
It’s upsetting for residents who spent hours hauling it to the curb and have lost so much.
“We’ve definitely heard from people asking about people driving around because they see them picking through the garbage at the curb and stuff looking for things they can take home or resell. Who knows what they’re doing with it but either way you don’t know what was on it so you shouldn’t be doing it,” Moore said.
One Ypres Avenue resident who didn’t want to be identified said people came and took wet mattresses, they stood in the rain and looked through the contaminated items, they admitted to taking things because they were having a yard sale even though she told them it could have sat in sewage water and worst of all they opened dozens of garbage bags.
“It’s a mess,” she said. “I’m never going to a yard sale in my life again.”
Some of the stuff piled on the side of Windsor’s streets may look tempting but here’s a few things to think about after the city’s worst flood.
HEALTH THREATS?
Some non-porous items can be cleaned and used again but have you thought about taking home bed bugs or fleas and the risk of poking through something sharp or mouldy or from sewage water, said Phil Wong, the manager for health inspection with the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit. He said the main concern is sewage contamination. There’s a risk with furniture of taking home bed bugs and fleas, he said. Some residents are talking about spray painting their flood waste to discourage the nuisance of pickers.
IS IT THEFT?
In most cases no. Windsor police have received calls from residents. Sgt. Steve Betteridge said it’s not usually considered theft to take something from garbage at the curb but if you see someone acting suspiciously, call police.
GARAGE AND ONLINE SALES
“Buyer beware,” said Betteridge. If you’re buying used items, find out the history of an item such as whether it was in a flood or if it could have been properly cleaned, he suggested.
Some Facebook sites where people sell or give away items have been warning members.
Mary Jo Jeindl, who started the Pay It Forward Facebook group where items are given away, said she approves each post so she hasn’t seen an issue.
Instead she’s seeing the generosity of Windsorites. There was a woman making casseroles for flood victims, people giving away new school supplies and posting free items just for people affected by flooding. “It’s amazing.”
DON’T STOP DONATING GENTLY USED ITEMS BUT NEVER FLOOD ITEMS
Kevin Smith, CEO with Goodwill Industries Essex, Kent, Lambton, said it’s a delicate issue for any thrift store because they rely on donations. People think thrift stores can clean the items but no thrift store wants anything wet, damaged or stained, he said.
The mould will build up, it’s too expensive to clean items and once someone puts something wet in a donation bin, it ruins everything around it, he said.
Plus it’s not safe for the workers who sort through items.
After last year’s flood, Goodwill spent $3,000 to $4,000 on landfill tipping fees for damaged items left at its stores that had to be thrown out.
He expects that could reach $5,000 this year. Goodwill never accepts mattresses and often gets furniture it can’t resell.
The problem is Goodwill still needs donations to keep people employed which is its focus but it needs gently used clothing, especially women’s clothing and household items.