It’s hard for Australian charities to cope with the amount of donations that they receive, and it’s often frustrating to see the discarded clothes and household items that are left behind.
A sign at an op-shop’s entrance over the weekend revealed what’s happening behind the scenes, with one worker describing her daily struggle.
The sign outside the shop stated that it was not accepting donations at this time. It was written on a blackboard, and it concluded by saying that the store was full.
The post was shared by a woman who was upset with the rising prices in the charity sector. She said that it wasn’t the first time she’d seen this behavior.
The woman noted that the overstock in the kitchen often resulted in the clothes being packed in too tight.
She suggested holding a sale to clear out the older items. However, the workers noted that the issue was actually the back room, where the sorting was taking place.
A photo shared by Yahoo News Australia revealed the piles of bags stacked on top of one another.
A manager from a charity store in Gippsland noted that it would take around two weeks to sort the donations.
According to the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, this issue is happening across the country due to the increasing number of donations. While the holiday season is their busiest time of the year, it’s also happening all year round.
According to the staff member, the constant work involved in the donations has caused her to become exhausted.
She said that the various tasks such as handling stock and sorting clothes were tiring. Aside from clothing, she also noted that broken furniture and household items were frequently left behind.
According to her, only around 50% of the clothes that were donated can be reused or sold in the store. The worker claims that the rise of fast fashion is partly to blame, as the quality of the goods left behind is not what it used to be.
She said that people tend to donate their clothes several times before they get rid of them due to how cheap they are.
Yahoo reported earlier that Australia is the biggest textile consumer in the world, with each individual discarding around 23 kilos of clothes each year.
Clean Up Australia claimed that each of us purchases around 60 garments each, which are mainly made from non-renewable and non-durable materials, and most of them end up in landfills.
The worker noted that the increasing number of donations has caused the issue of safety and health to become a more prominent issue.
In addition to being a health hazard, the lack of space in the back room has also caused some stores to stop accepting new items.
Due to the safety of the volunteers, some charity stores have been accused of selling second-hand goods that are incredibly expensive.
An employee from a charity shop agreed that she has seen this happen, but she said that most of the time, the items that are offered in city stores are priced higher.
According to the employee, some stores have key performance indicators that they use to determine the prices of their products.
When contacted by Yahoo, a representative of the charitable recycling industry said that charities do their own assessments and choose the appropriate items for their sales.
Volunteers or staff members will determine the price that they feel is fair, and these can be sold to Australian consumers.