A Cape Breton charity says they’re growing sick and tired with the amount of garbage, dirty clothes and broken appliances showing up in donation bags.
Volunteers at St. Vincent de Paul in New Waterford say in some cases, the bags are infested with bugs.
"There is a lot of good stuff, but a lot of it is just pure garbage," says volunteer Brenda Corbett.
Corbett says the problem began when several Diabetes Canada donation bins were removed from a nearby store because the business was closing. She says Kleenex, papers and old empty bags are also showing up in the clothes, and it’s making it difficult to help others.
"When people put their personal hygiene stuff in there, and I mean disgusting hygiene stuff, then I have to move it aside," Corbett says. "It's to help people. I needed it myself when my kids were small, so I don't mind doing this for anybody else.”
At 73 years old, Corbett is volunteering mostly by herself, and is now taking about 50 bags a week to the dump. But she’s optimistic things will get better, with new donation boxes being introduced .
"Hopefully the story will keep people from doing that anymore. We have these bins now, they're all nice and new, and hopefully it will cut down on all that garbage," says store owner Kenny Fraser.
Corbett says she has always appreciated the amount of donations and that continues to be true. She’s just asking people to keep it clean.
"I'm not expecting it to be new, I'm not expecting it to be washed and pressed, just a little consideration that it would be at least clean enough that you can put it out for people to see," she says.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald.
