LEEMING’S charity bins appear to be a mixed blessing.

The concept is wonderful – people donate unwanted items – clothing, household goods, toys, books, furniture even – to charities, who then on-sell said items at a reasonable price.

It should be a win-win situation,  people get what they need at a price, that they can afford, and it saves those items from going into landfill.

Sadly, that is not always the way  of things;  the system is not working as it should.

An example is the bins placed at the Beasley Oval in Leeming.

Raided

There were three; a Good Sammy’s yellow bin, one for Paraquad Industries and one for the Spine and Limb Foundation.

Over time, these bins have been raided on a regular basis, and items strewn about the carpark, left  on the grounds, often in the rain – and toys and games thrown around at random.  

Puzzles and Lego, for instance, were rendered virtually useless, as no-one was likely to put the pieces together in their box, such pieces having been discarded over a wide area.

In the two weeks before Christmas, there was a report of the bins having been vandalised on four separate occasions, and on each occasion some kind people took the trouble to try and gather items together and return them to the bins. 

The “roof” of the Good Sammy’s bin had long since been removed completely – it was standing propped up against the bin, and speculation is that whoever was responsible for the raids on the bins climbed in and simply threw the items out.

Why?

Will we ever know.

On one occasion, it appears that a bag containing something made of glass was thrown out and the item broke, leaving large shards of glass spread on the ground.

People – children – and dogs walk in this area, and someone could have received a serious injury.

Would the vandals care? Probably not.  

One has to wonder what they hope to achieve by their actions. 

Theft?

Is it theft?

Is it people who cannot afford to buy items that come looking for what they need? Is it kids having “fun,” or folk who are high on drugs? Who knows.

There are cameras in the area.

Are they monitored, do they even work?  

Melville council was contacted by a  community-minded citizen and, a couple of days before Christmas, a council employee arrived and tidied up the mess and took it away.

The following morning, the Good Sammy bin (and its lid) disappeared.  ‘

For a couple of days, the area remained tidy, but just after Christmas it became obvious that the remaining two bins had been raided, and their contents spread around the area.  

The upshot was, that the remaining two bins, and their contents were removed.

A useful and well-intended facility is no more.

On the morning of New Year’s Eve, a dog walker observed a pile of bags, presumably containing donations, left on the ground where the charity bins formerly stood.

One does have to wonder what the  well-intended donor expected to happen to the items.

It is probably inevitable that within a day or two those donated items will be strewn about.

Responsibility

The question then needs to be asked, who will take responsibility for tidying up the mess? 

This type of behaviour is a very sad reflection on our society.

Perhaps if more people took notice and called out the bad behaviour of others, it might make a difference.   

The Melville Council did arrange for their security vehicle to do extra patrols of the area, but that ceased on Christmas Eve.

And guess what happened!

Charities are there to help people, and there are thousands of kind people who make donations.

However, those donations can become self-defeating if the charities then have to spend money to dispose of any items that are no longer saleable, so the win-win situation can, and frequently does, become the opposite.