By BRIDGET SCOTT
Cranbourne Salvation Army volunteers say they are fed up with inconsiderate residents who are dumping hard waste on their doorstep.
Volunteers Andrew Postlewhite and Kerry Jose said the rubbish dumping outside the community centre has become a regular occurrence and is undermining their charity’s good deeds.
“After the weekend we arrive and they have dumped off all this rubbish,” Ms Jose said.
“It’s like someone has had something sitting in the trailer or the back of their shed.”
She said that barely a weekend goes by without members arriving to find they have to clear away other people’s hard waste.
Ms Jose also said that some of the goods donated to the Salvation Army have been damaged in the process.
“Someone has donated some sort of outdoor setting with glass tops and we came in and they had all been smashed,” she said.
Mr Postlewhite encouraged people to bring their donations when the centre is open.
He said the organisation no longer provides collection bins because they cause just as many problems.
“We are trying to get people to come in when we are open,” he said.
The manager of the op-shop said it is a major problem over public holiday weekends.
“It’s just a group of inconsiderate people that can’t be bothered going to the tip,” he said.
Ms Jose agreed and said volunteers do report the problem to police who have said they will keep an eye out in the area.
Mr Postlewhite said the situation is hard to manage because the centre is located in an open space and to put a fence around it would make it look like a “prison camp.”
He said a small barrier that was placed at the front entrance did deter people for a while.
