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Charity clothing bins: Making Al Gore cry
By Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf
October 22, 2007[Writer’s note: Initially, this story was going to highlight the fact that charity drop-boxes are not always used for purely charitable causes. It was going to spotlight ways in which some entrepreneurs might play on the sensibilities of Canadians by putting out used clothes bins cleverly disguised to make it seem like one was donating to a charity, when in reality the clothes were being sorted out and re-sold for profit around the world. But having just summed that topic up, and having seen numerous stories in the press about this over the years, we’re sure Canadians have gotten savvier about where their donations can do the most good and who they can trust as their favourite charities. Instead, this writer has uncovered a timely issue regarding this subject that he believes will be of immediate educational value to CharityVillage readers.]
We’ve all seen them. Whether you live in a small town or major urban centre, you or someone you know has made use of them – charity drop-boxes. Those ubiquitous metal containers located around town that beckon for your old or unwanted fashions, promising to use them to help clothe your locality’s poor and hard-done-by.
Most people put a bag together every now and then to bring to their local drop-box. Once deposited, it leaves folks with a sense of having done “good” on two fronts: helping their fellow man and recycling still-wearable products. But what many Canadians might not realize is that the drop-box is rapidly becoming an environmental liability for many of the charities that operate them.
Dump-box dilemma
Environment Canada advises that one of the primary ways Canadians can help prevent harm to the planet and side-step rapidly filling up local landfills is to donate clothes to charities. It’s a great message, and most Canadians who leave their goods off at drop-boxes are indeed being environmentally prudent.
Some quick facts about Canadian textile waste:
- There is an average of seven kilograms of textile waste (clothes, bedding, curtains, etc.) per person in landfills throughout Canada
- Textile waste accounts for more than 4% of materials in Canada's landfills
- Synthetic products will not decompose, and while woolen garments do decompose, they produce methane gas, which causes global warming. Thirty-eight percent of Canada's methane emissions (greenhouse gases) come from landfill sites.
- On average, 80% of textiles thrown away still have 75% of their wearability left.
(All figures from the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy: Used Clothing Donations website)
However, according to the Salvation Army, one of the country’s oldest, largest and most renowned charities, there’s an ironic twist to the drop-box-cum-environmental-saviour idea. Because of the heightened sense of environmentalism in municipalities across the nation, charity drop-boxes are becoming dumping grounds for the excess garbage that homeowners produce above and beyond what their city limitations require on garbage collection days.
Dumping extra costs
Aiñe Curran, government and public relations for the national recycling operations of the Salvation Army, says the problem of dumping at her organization’s approximately 250 drop-boxes nationwide, and anecdotally at other charities’ locations - from what she is hearing from her sector peers - is becoming more noticeable.
“Our donors are phenomenally generous,” Curran states. “And all donations we receive go through a rigorous [evaluation] process across the country. The drop-box programs are effective...but a lot of municipalities are causing stress on the program. People are dropping off their garbage that they can’t put out [for pick-up].”
Curran says the phenomenon is “putting pressure” on charities that operate drop-boxes and burdening the Salvation Army’s budget with ancillary costs. “Drop-bins are the only consistent opportunity we have to get people to drop off things,” she says. “We don’t generate garbage at source. But we have a moral obligation to recycle the garbage we receive.”
And that garbage factor is now cutting into the critical revenues the charity raises each year through the program.
While the Salvation Army diverts nearly 60 million pounds of material from landfills via their thrift store and drop-box operations each year, the expenditures on drop-box clean-up are taking a toll on the charitable potential of the operation.
According to its literature, nearly one and a half million Canadians receive aid from the Salvation Army yearly. In 2006-07, the Sally Ann raised $73.2 million from used clothing sales alone. However, $68 million of that was eaten up through auxiliary costs, leaving just $5.2 million to be used in their mission to help Canadians in need.
What’s worse, Curran notes that approximate costs now show the Salvation Army spending “well over $3 million” a year to manage dumping/garbage costs from the drop-box program. “And it will likely increase until recycling is more enforceable in communities,” she says.
Stemming the garbage tide
“We’re in a situation where we’re getting garbage and we have to haul that stuff to a landfill,” Curran says. And despite various well-intentioned municipality bylaws being passed to make dumping an offense, Curran notes that at present, many of those laws have “no teeth” because it’s hard for cities to enforce them and it may take years before they actually can.
In fact, a recent City of Toronto bylaw (No. 800-2006) enacted earlier this year to help prevent the fraudulent use of clothing-bins by profiteers, may have only served to further burden legitimate charities. The bylaw requires all drop-box operators to ensure “that the clothing drop box is clean, in good repair and is free of graffiti and shall ensure that all areas immediately adjacent to the clothing drop box are clean and free of litter, refuse and other debris.” But there’s only so much a nonprofit with limited resources can do.
Future forward
That’s why charities like Curran’s are trying to be proactive in recycling and taking care of the problem as best they can. In one instance, the Salvation Army in Ontario has partnered with a landfill site to help divert clothing donations from the landfill back to the Salvation Army stores. Curran is also floating trial balloon ideas for consideration with municipalities. One idea is to put a used clothing-mobile in circulation on garbage days, so people can set aside their used clothing donations on the curb for pick-up and lessen the need to dump at the drop-boxes. But much negotiating and planning still has to occur before such a plan will see the light of day, she says.
Curran also wants to get the word out to people to consider what impact they have if they continue to use the drop-boxes as a proxy rubbish bin.
Think before you dump
“One of the things we’ve always relied upon is the good spirit and honour of the people who donate,” says Curran. “We like to say, ‘If it’s something that a friend would like to have from you, then it’s something we would want from you.' That’s our litmus test.”
It’s likely that your friends don’t want your garbage and neither does the Salvation Army or any of the other charities that operate drop-boxes across the land. Still, Curran thinks the problem might get worse before it gets better. “I would anticipate the more that [environmental laws] are put into place in municipalities… I’d anticipate more dumping at charitable locations,” she suggests. “At the end of the day, we’re there to help people and it’s important for the communities to be educated on this issue.”
So Canada, be good to your fellow citizens and quit dumping your refuse onto the shoulders of those who are already carrying a heavy load.Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf is president of WordLaunch professional writing services in Toronto. He can be reached at andy@wordlaunch.com
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