Charities say higher-quality donations needed as most items go to waste

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Canberra's biggest charities dumped almost 600 tonnes of waste at the tip last financial year. They're blaming the overconsumption of low-quality goods for the alarming churn.

Transcript

00:00Donate to Vinnies and chances are your items will end up here.

00:07Those 220 trolleys or so are what came in today.

00:11This Canberra warehouse processes 2.8 million kilograms of overflow donations a year.

00:18You never know what you're going to get.

00:19But much of it never makes it to the op shop floor.

00:22A lot of it is broken, damaged or incomplete.

00:25The organisation sent 376 tonnes of waste to landfill under the ACT's charity fee waiver last financial year.

00:34It's an almost 22% jump on the previous year's figures.

00:38People are buying lesser quality and so what happens, it's coming through faster.

00:44But then the quantity of stuff that we can't use and can't sell, can't give away is growing very fast.

00:50The volume of donations to Anglicare ACT headed to the tip has surged 50% over the past year.

00:57Fast fashion is a major culprit.

01:00We can't really be selling things in the op shop that are at the really bottom market of the textile market

01:06because we can't sell them for more than they're available at the original shop price.

01:11In the madness of the Black Friday sales and in the lead up to Christmas, charities are pleading with shoppers to make more sustainable choices.

01:20So fewer products end up destined for landfill.

01:23It's not all bad news.

01:25Figures show a decline in charity waste overall.

01:29But organisations want people to embrace a simple rule.

01:33Would you give what you're donating to the op shop to a good friend?

01:36A timely reminder

01:38Someone will love that.

01:39To sort trash from treasure.

01:41Unique play

02:02Unique play

02:05Unique play

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