OK so Christmas is well and truly over…presents have been exchanged, homewares rearranged, and it’s now the season for giving unwanted gear to charity.
If you plan on re-gifting to one of the local ‘op shops’ on the Central Coast, first take some time to check that it’s not also unwanted or unusable to them!
The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has estimated that 40% of donations to charities are unusable. A further 50% is made up of broken items, the other half is just rubbish.
Too much of it is being dumped on Central Coast charities, leaving them to clean up the mess and foot the bill, which takes funds away from the very people they’re trying to help. Some stores have had to employ security guards to keep an eye on the place overnight to keep the mess to a minimum.
Most op shops can accept and sell quality clothing, accessories, books, bric-a-brac and homewares…but they mostly won’t take mattresses, electrical items, stained or damaged clothing – a better idea is to ‘donate’ that to the weekly waste collection, or book a kerbside pickup (click here for more).
As a general rule, please don’t donate clothing that is damaged, stained or dirty – definitely no blood, grease, oil or paint. And if it’s garbage, put it in the garbage bin.
Consider this, if you wouldn’t wear it, put it on your kids, or give it to a friend in need– chances are it’s not what the charities want either.
The best way to make sure your donation is not trashed after hours, is to arrange a pick up, or drop it off during opening hours of your chosen charity.
Be a donator not a dumper.
If your clothing is unwearable it’s not necessarily unusable, with some charities selling ‘recycled rags’ of absorbent material, around 40 centimetres square. Search Planet Ark for a spot to drop off any items that match that description.
There are quite a lot of charity bins across the Coast, namely:
- After-a-Fashion, 36 William Street GOSFORD
- Anglican Church Opportunity Shop, 2 Tyrell Place KILLARNEY VALE
- Fairhaven Services, 209 Brisbane Water Drive POINT CLARE
- Holy Trinity Anglican Church Opp Shop, 92 Serpentine Road ERINA
- Lifeline on The Boulevarde WOY WOY, 310 Mann Street GOSFORD, and 94 Showground Rd NORTH GOSFORD
- Salvation Army, 153 and 352 Mann Street GOSFORD, 182 Pacific Highway TUGGERAH, 28 Canton Beach Road TOUKLEY
- St Vincent de Paul, 124 Railway Street WYONG
Opportunity Shopping is a great way to bag a bargain from someone else’s cast offs, and chances are there’s one near you:
- Red Cross has shops at 1/156 Mann Street GOSFORD, 165 The Entrance Road THE ENTRANCE, plus a pop-up opp shop at Erina Fair, open most days at Shop T802.
- Salvo shops are at 6 locations across the Coast including GOSFORD, GREEN POINT, TUGGERAH and WOY WOY.
- The Smith Family Store is open 6 days a week at 8 Community Road BATEAU BAY, with over 50 bins across the coast to collect good quality donations.
- Vinnies are at BUDGEWOI, ERINA HEIGHTS, GOSFORD, KINCUMBER, THE ENTRANCE, MORISSET, UMINA BEACH, TOUKLEY, WOY WOY, and WYONG.
If you want to check that your chosen Op Shop is supporting welfare programs, ask if they’re a member of the National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations (NACRO).
