Public asked to donate – thoughtfully
NEW Year clear-outs have left Lifeline Cairns swamped with donations but staff are urging people not to just dump unwanted items near their collection bins.
Lifeline Cairns regional manager Frank Costa said the charity would never stop accepting donations despite being snowed under since Christmas.
“This has probably been the busiest I’ve known it since Cyclone Larry,” he said.
“We’ve had a lot of goods come in from hotel refurbishment projects, plus people donating in the aftermath of the heavy rain.
“Where the rubbish arises is when good-intentioned people leave donations outside the bins.
“We’re grateful for the donations we receive, but they need to be dropped in with us. If you leave items outside a bin, we’re not going to get the advantage of them.
“We’ve reduced the number of roadside bins due to the problems with waste over the past few years – down to 20 from 52 region-wide when I first started 20 years ago – but the number of donations hasn’t gone down.”
The Lifeline Superstore at Bungalow is stocked with donated goods such as clothes, toys, games and even furniture that has been building up since Christmas.
Mr Costa said the Far North branch of the charity had been receiving about 2.8 tonnes of donated clothing per day since Christmas.
“Most of what gets donated in other towns like Atherton finds its way to our superstore,” he said.
“The bulk donation period started around November and we’ve just been pushing ourselves to keep it organised.
“We waste very little because we have avenues for selling clothes back to schools or community members.
“We export a container of unused clothes once a month to Dubai.”
A Lifeline Queensland spokeswoman said typically there was an increase in donations at the beginning of the year.
“While the majority of donations are made correctly, unfortunately we do have instances of rubbish dumping at our bins which costs Lifeline financially,” she said.
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