Stores plea for dumping of donations to cease

Shops and sites receiving donated goods around Whanganui this Christmas are happy to receive items but want to ensure it is done correctly, and the goods aren’t dumped instead.

Koha Shed manager Sherron Sunnex said someone had already dumped rotten mattresses there in the lead-up to Christmas.

“No dumping when we’re not here, we’ve had that already,” she said, citing the mattresses left outside the shed on Duncan St in Whanganui East.

When items are left there, Koha Shed staff have to take them in so it doesn’t look messy out the front.

The Koha Shed is open and receiving items from 9am until 2pm daily until Christmas.

Sunnex said she would be at the shed for three hours in the morning on Boxing Day and Wednesday and Thursday next week.

Sandie Brooks, relief manager for the Hato Hone St John Retail Store on Ingestre St, said dumping happened all the time.

“We’ve got surveillance cameras, we’ve got notices on the door . . . and it’s still just being dumped.”

She said the store would be closed from noon today until January 9.

“It would be nice if people would be considerate.

“We welcome donations . . . but please do it when the shop’s open.”

Brooks said she was also concerned items dumped during the holidays could be strewn about and create a mess outside the shop.

Goods were being received at Hospice Whanganui shops around town, but marketing manager Kelly Scarrow said they did not want any dumping outside of stores.

Lee Fisher, acting manager at Whanganui East Hospice Shop, said there have been times when the store had been short-staffed of late and was therefore not able to receive goods.

People should bring in items in a good, sellable condition, she said.

“If you would buy it, bring it in. If you wouldn’t, don’t.”

Whanganui Salvation Army Family Store team leader Dianne Dunne said that store would be open every day except Sundays.

“We basically take everything. “The only things we don’t take for health and safety reasons are stained mattresses; we can’t do any baby items.”

Margaret Healey, manager of the St Vinnies store on Victoria Ave, said the shop closed yesterday and would reopen on January 9.

The shop takes clothes, books, kitchenware and other knick-knacks.

There was a clothing bin beside the shop, and Healey said she emptied it over the holidays. “It can pile up.”

Fly-tipping warning

The public is being reminded it is illegal to dump in a public place.

“Leading up to Christmas, some people can take shortcuts and illegally dump their rubbish in a public space,” Whanganui District Council waste officer Louise Campbell said.

The infringement fee for illegal dumping is $400.

Campbell said people can report others who dump rubbish to the council.

“If you see illegally dumped rubbish, please phone the council on 06 349 0001 anytime, complete the ‘report a problem’ online form on our council website, or download the Snap Solve Send app to your mobile phone and report it that way.

“You can report the type of rubbish, the approximate amount, and whether it could endanger the public,” she said.