BELLEVILLE – Habitat for Humanity is struggling with a rise in the number people who are dumping unwanted and unusable items on their site. Executive director Glenn May-Anderson says is costing them three times more than last year to dispose of it all.
“Our disposal fees are actually up this year; they are going to be about three times what they were last year because we’ve had that much of an increase in dumping. And we’ve had some staffing challenges and other issues because of it.”
The Prince Edward-Hastings Habitat for Humanity was formed in 1995 and is focused mainly on providing housing, through volunteers building homes as well as affordable rentals, for local families. Habitat for Humanity also has a Restore, which accepts and sells gently used donations.
However, with the rise in home renovation projects during the COVID-19 lockdown, Habitat for Humanity has seen a rise in people dropping off unusable products, outside of store hours, that the charity then has to pay to get rid of.
And despite what people may think, the Habitat for Humanity does not receive any special deals on disposal fees; they pay full price, which takes money away from running the rest of the charity.
“Every time we have to have one of those bins picked up and emptied, we are looking at it costing us three to four hundred dollars.” And unlike larger for-profit organizations, this comes directly out of the charity’s pocket.
In the back of the Habitat for Humanity store are two large dumpsters that are filled with unusable donations that May-Anderson says need to be emptied every week to every two weeks.
“The dumping is really frustrating. It gets pretty expensive, and we are a charity; we do the best we can.”
However, May-Anderson says that he believes that people who are dumping the unusable items may be doing so from a good place.
“I think it’s an educational process more than anything.” May- Anderson said. “People don’t understand that because we are a social enterprise, we are treated like a commercial business. If we have something that we can’t use, we have to dispose of it.”
For future reference, May-Anderson has said that they accept new and gently used furniture, appliance, hardware, tools, home renovation supplies, home décor supplies, lighting, electrical supplies, and plumbing supplies. “Basically, what you would find at a Home Depot.”
He also said people should drop off donations during the new store hours.
“We try to encourage people, when we are here during regular business hours, which is 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, that is when we will accept donations. And, please, don’t just leave something at the back door, wait for someone to come and talk to you and test whether or not it’s something that really works.”
And as May-Anderson says, he hopes that the dumping of unusable items will decrease as more people understand what Habitat for Humanity accepts.
“The biggest thing for us is making sure everyone is educated. We definitely do want good things that are still in good working order that fall into furniture and appliances, and those categories that we deal with. But when it comes to the other items, you’re just taking the cost of dumping off of yourself and dumping it on to us.”
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