THE iconic red donation bins at the Salvation Army, in Armidale will be removed, after a spate of dumping and vandalism over six months.
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Salvation Army Armidale store captain Dale Murray said he would no longer put the safety of his volunteers at risk.
“There was a significant amount of rubbish left here over the Christmas and New Year period,” he said.
“One of our volunteers was cleaning the mess that was left, and picked up a baby bath that was filled with urine – nobody should have to deal with that.”
“It’s just gotten to the point where it’s really bad. Someone has lit the dumped waste on fire and that has damaged the signage that we spent over $1000 to put up,” Mr Murray said.
“We could have given 20 families in need food hampers with that money.”
Mr Murray said that while the measures were extreme, other Salvation Army stores in the area have had to deal with similar issues.
“There’s people that are defecating inside the donations, they’re making a real mess,” he said.
“I want to stress that we are thankful for the meaningful donations from the public, without them we couldn’t keep going – but our volunteers should not have to spend hours of their own time cleaning up a mess that has been left by people that don’t want to take their rubbish to the tip.”
The bins will now be located inside the premises and donations will only be accepted during business hours.