Just a reminder about donating to thrift centers/charities

[jen276here]

I just want to post a friendly reminder to everyone about donating clothing, household items, toys, etc to thrift centers/charities. These charities spend an awful amount of time and money each year sorting and pitching donations that are unusable - lots of time just simply trash. I know it is tempting to say they will figure a use for it, but not always. Clothing w/ tears and stains are will be thrown away in most cases. Toys that are recalled or broken will also be pitched. Like this article states, if you wouldn't give it to a family member it most likely shouldn't go to the donation bin either. I personally say if it isn't in sellable condition then I won't put it in the bin.

Also - when donating using the collection bins (the large metal boxes that have the opening you have to heave your items into - lol) please don't place your items outside these bins if they are full - they will get damaged by people or weather before they are picked up and they will end up in the trash anyway. I know it is inconvenient to come back another day but why bother if it will only end up damaged? Also, if you are donating a large amount of items consider taking it to a donation center with an attendant or contacting a local charity who will come pick your items up for you from your house. Both can give you a tax receipt for your donation too.

So what do you do w/ all those 'un-donatable' items? Repurpose and Recycle! There are tons of articles on the web about what you can do to recycle. A simple example is taking stained T-shirts and cutting them in to cleaning rags.

Just think of how much more money these charities would have available to them if we all did are part!!

Many Thrift Store Donations Get Trashed, Stolen - Pittsburgh News Story - WTAE Pittsburgh

MONROEVILLE, Pa. --

Monday at 9 a.m. is time to unload the donation bin at the St. Vincent DePaul thrift store and see which items people gave to charity over the weekend.
It's neither an easy nor a quick job. There are enough donations to fill the warehouse.
"There are a lot of generous people in the Pittsburgh area and Allegheny County," said Melissa Lakin, whose job it is to go through everything.
Just one weekend at the thrift store in Monroeville brings tens of thousands of pounds of donations. But there's a problem -- the majority of it is not usable. In fact, the majority is just garbage.
On a Monday when Channel 4 Action News' Ari Hait visited the store, Lakin found that the donations included a raggedy Christmas decoration, a cable box, a shoe and some baby bottles that she said would go in the garbage because the nipples were not sanitary.
Lakin estimated that about two-thirds of the donated that get left in the bin are not usable.
She said the store recycles what it can, but most items end up in the trash -- and Hait reported that the charity is who pays for it to be hauled away. St. Vincent DePaul shells out about $100,000 a year in landfill fees.
It's the same story at every thrift store in the region. People donate obvious garbage -- and a ratty, torn couch that Hait found is not the worst of it.
"I've gotten old, rusty, full cans of paint, and old tires that are worn -- completely bald," Lakin said.
The thrift store has also received batteries with used automotive fluids.
In other words, people have found a new outlet for things they can't legally throw away. They donate them.
"It's very frustrating," operations director Bryan Miller said. "It's an enormous amount of money that could be being used to help people in need, and instead, here it is. It's going to fill up our landfill."
The story is similar at Goodwill thrift stores -- but on a much larger scale.
Goodwill's Bob Stape said their stores get millions of pounds of donations, and only a percentage can be sold to the public. The difference here is that Goodwill takes advantage of its size and has contracts allowing them to recycle almost anything.
"We're running right now -- from this year to last year -- 81 percent less trash than we did the year before, and it's completely attributed to recycling more material," Stape said.
Goodwill Southwestern Pennsylvania: What can and cannot be donated
Goodwill has recycled 17 million pounds of material in the last year, including more than 2 million in June alone. Still, they pay about a half-million dollars per year to haul away donations that are really just trash.
"It takes away from what we can do on the mission side because it adds cost to doing business," Stape said.
Perhaps the worst part is that the best donations often don't make it to the warehouse because they get stolen from donation bins.
Stape said Goodwill has surveillance cameras at many of its locations and is constantly catching people on video helping themselves to donations -- and what they don't take, they leave exposed.
"Not only what they stole is lost, what's left behind is no longer of any value because it gets destroyed from the weather," Stape said.
How common is theft? Channel 4 Action News waited outside a St. Vincent DePaul store on a Sunday night for only about an hour and saw a person arrive on a bicycle and go through the bags of donations. He even put a box on his shoulder to see if he could balance and ride at the same time.
The man eventually left without taking anything, so it's unclear if he was looking to steal.
"I do want to mention, in the end, there's one guy they'll be answering to upstairs, so they might want to consider that also," Miller said.
Thrift stores want people to keep donating -- it's how they survive and support their programs -- but they ask that their donors only leave materials that they would feel comfortable giving to a loved one.

[434Teresa]

Here they sell the those clothes they dont want to be tore up used rags..factory workes use them as well as other places

yes some of that stuff should have went in the trash....

[cecaic0609]

My opinion exactally! As you can see from my siggy I sell 80% of my kids' clothes they outgrow, but anything that is like an older style or non-name brand I donate. My Aunt actually sent a box of used clothing to my daughter last week and while I should have been grateful, I was actually appauled. Everything in there looked like stuff someone couldn't use or sell because it either had holes in it or was stained. I'm not talking about a tiny little spot that could go unoticed or be removed. I'm talking about outfits that had stains covering over 50% of the outfit, they were in horrible condition and I ended up throwing almost the whole box out. Then when she found out I was selling my kids' clothes she had the nerve to post a message on my facebook wall asking if I was selling any of the clothes she sent...it rather irrated me because the clothes weren't even in good enough condition for me to donate to the Salvation Army. I have taken 2 garbage bags full of things that I decided not to sell just within the past month. I LOVE the red bins, they come in sooooo handy because before it was out of my way to drive to the Salvation Army and I never remembered to go. The clothes would just sit in the car until they got ruined. Now whenever I have a bag, I can drop it off immediately. I will agree with the statement not to leave stuff sitting next to them. I have drove by some that had at least 20 bags just sitting there and it was pouring rain...that means all those clothes are going to end up getting mold on them. There are plenty of bins around, just drive to another one.

[jen276here]

Another way to look at it is, if you wouldn't buy it based on its condition, I wouldn't anticipate others buying it. For example, if you have a stain T-shirt you are considering donating, ask yourself if you'd pay $1 for it? If not, recycle it or throw it away.

I think all to many times folks want to get rid of things and either feel bad about throwing things away or just don't know if they should and figure the charities can figure it out for them. But it is a huge drain of resources for the charities to do this. Same thing w/ the bins - I think many figure if they are full the truck will be coming soon and they'll be okay for the night and/or they do not have time to go to another bin. But by leaving your donation outside a bin you have wasted your time by packing it up and driving over anyway because your donation is most likely going to end in the trash.

[jkljkl]

I find it hard to believe thrift centers are that picky.

I went to Goodwill recently, and saw MOSTLY clothing from 1970s and 1980s. While not necessarily ripped or stained, I wouldn't call it wearable - unless you were going to a retro costume party.

Problem with some of these thrift stores, is they get pickier because they want to sell a lot of things on ebay. They want your NICE stuff. The problem is, if it were nice, brand new and I could still wear/use it, I probably wouldn't donate it.

I think these thrift stores are just jonesing to get people to give them really nice stuff.

There is a local charity in my area that only accepts brand new clothing, "with tags". I highly suspect the clothing is sold on ebay, and not given to the foster children that its supposed to be for. I have my suspicions, but can't prove anything. I told them I would donate new clothing, but the tags would be removed first. They came up with some very convoluted excuse about why that wouldn't work for them. So I don't donate to them at all.

[Colinsgrandma]

I would not donate items that were stained . Lots of quilters use old blue jeans . They make really sturdy bed spreads. I love you tube and lots of young people like to buy vintage things and re-fashion them. They make videos about what they have bought and show what they have done. Luckily we live near some great thrift stores and have a wonderful recycling business about 15 miles away. The recycling business recycles most things and charges a modest fee to safely dispose of everything else.

[Rene S]

Great reminder, OP! I would never donate broken items or torn clothing. Why should I give a thrift store my "garbage?" If I have a broken item (like a printer), I would and have freecycled it, because maybe someone would want it for parts--but I wouldn't give it to Goodwill and pass it off as working.

[CW&M Mom]

What a great reminder!

I hate living no where near a thrift store now!

Shout out to my Utah and surrounding area peeps. The Deseret Industries can take lightly stained or small flaws items as they recycle all of them..and they take stuffed animals...not to sell..but they use the to stuff in boxes as padding for big charity or aid shipments that go to foreign countries.

Things that are of a recycle nature like TV's they may be able to still use that are no longer working...because they can recycle some of the parts for small amounts of money to help with operating costs. You can always ask them what they can use..and what they can't. I know they no longer want large appliances, no tires, and no beds.

[~~Who,Me?~~]

Good reminder and good article.