Down in the dumps as dumping goes up

Andrew Mathieson
A GEELONG charity has been forced to pay a soaring garbage bill after reporting its largest surge from the dumping of unwanted household goods.
Salvation Army has described the $150,000-a-year cost to remove dilapidated couches, mattresses and whitegoods as “the worst it has ever been”.
The hefty bill covered removing items not good enough for sale from the Salvos eight Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula stores.
Salvation Army regional chief executive Allen Dewhirst said the extra spending was biting into the charity’s ability to provide community services.
“This money could be going toward helping the homeless, people who need help with drugs and alcoholics,” he said.
Mr Dewhurst blamed the cost on council withdrawing its service to remove rubbish from the Salvos’ stores for free.
He also believed more residents were dumping rubbish after hours to avoid rising tip charges.
Dumping a full trailer with a bed mattress and base costs $47 at Geelong Resource Recovery Centre.
“Unfortunately, council won’t pay for us to have free tipping any more,” Mr Dewhirst said.
“If we keep spending money on dumping other people’s rubbish and also cleaning up theft, regrettably the less-fortunate will suffer.”
St Vincent de Paul Society’s four regional stores were also suffering from dumped goods.
South Geelong acting centre manager Russell Perry said the stores were spending more than a $1000 a month on unwanted rubbish.