Unusable gifts cost Vinnies $½m a year

Sydney
27 July 2003

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Unusable gifts cost Vinnies $½m a year

By Chris Lindsay

Disposing of donated goods that can’t be used or sold costs St Vincent de Paul Society centres in NSW and the ACT more than $500,000 a year, says Pauline Kitson, state co-ordinator of the centres.

“This is very expensive and takes up money that should be used for the needy,” she says.

Vinnies is asking people to be more careful about what they donate and has introduced recycling policies which it hopes will reduce the amount that is now being taken to the tip.

“We really need to reduce the amount we have to dump because it wastes money,” says Ms Kitson.

“But on the other hand we don’t want to say ‘no’ to people over what they give us or they may not donate the things the disadvantaged so desperately need.

“Every year we give out $5 million worth of goods to people in need. The rubbish is often the by-product of the good stuff.

“But a lot of the stuff we get - old furniture, broken crockery, toys we can’t sell, shoes that can’t be reused, handbags that are damaged or out of fashion - has to go straight to the tip.

“We collect tonnes and tonnes of stuff from the general public, who are enormously generous, and a lot

of this is sold or given away.

“A proportion is reused. For example, when clothing is donated, some is sold in the Vinnies shops, some is given away to needy people, some that is not useable as clothing is made into industrial rags, and some with woollen content, such as jumpers or cardigans is sent to India and Pakistan where the wool is reclaimed and made into cheap blankets.

“We have four country rag recycling centres, in Lismore, Wagga Wagga, Canberra and Coonamble. In the metropolitan area we sell the rags to charities or private operators.”

Ms Kitson said that when people are planning to donate something electrical it is best to ring up the appropriate Vinnies centre and see if it can be used.

“For example, many of the electrical items we receive cannot be pulled apart and reused - such as old 486 computers, DVD players, keyboards, monitors and printer cartridges - because there are very few places that will do this,” she says.

“Some people are on their third and fourth generation computers and they have the old ones in the garage. They don’t want to throw them away because they cost $4000 each, so they think they will give them to Vinnies and we can sell them or give them to someone who wants them.

“But it not as easy as that.

“Not many people want them, the old software is not available; really they are no use to anyone unless you can establish before giving them that there is a use for them.

“The same goes for old kettles, toasters, fans and heaters.

“Under the Sale of Goods Act in NSW we have an obligation to only sell goods of saleable quality - which means they have to be safe.

“Unless there is a licensed electrician to check them out and ensure they are not dangerous then we cannot sell them.

“Some Vinnies centres have licensed electricians, usually retired, who will check out donated goods, but if that can’t be done we have no choice but to send them to the tip. If we can’t be sure it is safe we can’t even give them away.

“If people rang the centres first they could check out whether there is an electrician there to check the donations are safe. The phone numbers can be found in the white pages or on the Vinnies website.

“There is also the problem of dangerous goods, as listed on the website of the Department of Fair Trading.

“We operate under the same rules as a retailer and are under an obligation not to sell goods that are not safe.

“A classic example of this is children’s nightwear. This has to be labelled exactly the same way as it would be in retail shops; for example, telling people whether it is flammable. If we can’t do that we legally cannot sell it.”

Ms Kitson made a plea to people not to “leave donations on the street outside a Vinnies centre over the weekend”. If they do, they are not making a donation at all, she says. “All they are doing is adding to the mess on the street.

“Anything that is any good will be stolen anyway.

“If people have a donation to make, they should do it during the day when the centre is open.”

Once donated, items are given to people in real need as well as sold in the centres.