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Non-profits that take in and reuse unwanted items are being bombarded with other stuff they can’t use or recycle.
“It’s horrible,” said Roz Morgan, executive director at Our Father’s House in Warsaw, a thrift store that relies on donations.
After collection boxes for the Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation Center in Fort Wayne were removed from Kosciusko County in September due to an increase in unusable items and stealing, that didn’t stop someone from recently leaving a pile of furniture, electronics and tires at the 501 E. Arthur St. location, including mattresses covered in bed bugs.
Salvation Army Community Ministries Coordinator Ken Locke said he believes it’ll take more education to get people to stop dropping off unusable items at collection boxes and along roads around the county.
“Part of what’s happened is the Salvation Army pulled their boxes. Goodwill is pulling their boxes and ... they’re having people bring stuff to their store so they can say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ The challenge then is the stuff that is ‘no’ and where it’s ending up. And that’s what we’re dealing with at Salvation Army,” Locke said.
He said it’s stuff like mattresses, which can’t be resold anyway, and people don’t want because of problems like bed bugs.
Information on Goodwill, its store locations and what it will accept can be found online at goodwill-ni.org.
Morgan said Our Father’s House doesn’t have a drop-off box now on purpose.
Instead, people drop off stuff at the old Jomac building or at the Winona Avenue store during business hours.
Anyone wanting to drop off good, useable furniture can do that at Jomac Thursday, Friday or Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Morgan said she will look at furniture first to determine if it can be reused.
KC Recycling Depot, 220 S. Union St., is getting dumped on all the time, too.
Director Tom Ganser said the Depot so far this year has seen over 23,400 pounds of “just trash basically” dropped off at its site that is not considered recyclable.
In 2016, the Depot had a total of 30,420 pounds.
“We’re gearing up this year to do more trash than we ever have in the drop-off centers,” Ganser said, adding that part of the problem becomes where can people take these things. “The other piece is just that, which kind of falls into the education piece, there’s certain things that we will take but a lot of people don’t understand.”
As an example, he points to outdated baby car seats that after a certain amount of time are expired and aren’t supposed to be reused. “So what do you do with them? Technically it’s at that point a landfill item because you can’t really recycle them.”
Locke said no one is taking the chance anymore of reselling stuff like baby items and car seats because of the liability issues.
“So that all gets into this flow of stuff that people don’t know what to do with,” he said.
Ganser said the state has mandated that the old cathode-ray tubes, TVs and electronics that include a variety of types of hazardous items ranging from mercury, lead and copper need to be recycled.
This year, the recycling center hosted a three-month amnesty period for TVs. Due to a continuing demand to drop off such items, the Depot lowered the drop off fee to a simple $5 fee for TVs and monitors.
The Depot’s drop-off stations are located in Claypool, Leesburg, Mentone, Milford, North Webster, Pierceton, Silver Lake, Syracuse and behind the Depot in Warsaw. The stations are clearly marked with what can be dropped off and more information about what is acceptable is available at its website, www.kcrecycling.com.
Ganser said he doesn’t think people who drop off “extra” items aren’t trying to “get away” with anything.
“I think they truly feel like we have a place to put this stuff, but we don’t. What are you going to do with plastic toys? Most of it is usually not a recycled plastic that you can use,” he said.
Locke also pointed to education.
“That’s a constant challenge for the both of us, educating people. One man’s trash is not always another man’s treasure. That’s not always true, but at the same time, it can potentially be a health issue, especially with the mattresses and furniture. Any kind of furniture with fabric, carpet. ... Anything with fabric, no one wants it because you can’t take the chance with bugs or whatever.”
Locke added it’s a safety issue, too, with glass and chemicals. Part of the Depot’s mission is to help keep hazardous household wastes out of the landfills and lakes and landfills. Oil-based paints, household chemic, insecticides can be taken by the Depot, Ganser said. If a person has questions, call 574-372-3087 to see if specific items are acceptable.
Ganser said he knows Warsaw struggles with people dropping off TVs and electronics for curbside pickup.
While the city doesn’t pick up such things as televisions and microwaves, Public Works Superintendent Jeff Beeler said they will pick up one large item per week at the curb. A mattress and box spring will count as one, and a couch counts as one, so if a person needs to get rid of both of those items, they will need to decide what one item to get rid of each week.
Beeler said all the information on what the Warsaw can and will pick up can be found on the city’s website at warsaw.in.gov under trash removal under Public Works Department (www.warsaw.in.gov/294/Trash-Service).
The street department generally picks up household trash bagged and in the can. Extra trash can be taken to Waste Management or the dump.
As part of Earth Week in April, the city’s Public Works Department, along with Borden Waste Away Services/Integra and Waste Management, offered residents a place to drop off spring-cleaning items at no charge.
Beeler said it was an extra day for people to get rid of their unwanted stuff, but despite promoting the event through the media and online, only 10 people showed up. A similar event will be held in 2018.
“There’s lots of things Warsaw offers that doesn’t cost citizens anything but their time. Go to the website and find out what we offer. A lot of it is free,” Beeler said.
When agencies like Salvation Army or Our Father’s House have to pay to have trash hauled away, that’s less money the organizations have for food banks, utility assistance or their other programs.
“It doesn’t help us at all. It costs us,” Locke said.
“In August, above and beyond my regular trash bill, I spent over $400 just going to the landfill. That’s money that could have been used for food,” Morgan said.
