Garbage Dumpers

For a few weeks, I’ve driven around with the back of my Xtrail full of clear, plastic bags stuffed with stuff to donate to charity.  Some clothes, shes and boots and a few kitchen items jostled around in the back until I could get around to giving them away.  Yesterday morning I made a point of adding such a stop to my errand list.  And I was horrified by what I saw.

In a busy plaza parking lot, next to the donation bin that’s clearly marked “Clothing, footwear and housewares only please!” some person or people had piled the crappy contents of a house or apartment.

There was a livingroom set, complete with worn and soiled couch, chair, loveseat and coffee table.  Boxes overflowing with broken electronics were piled against the metal bin.  Lamps, a microwave and assorted bits of plastic and metal were stacked, covering an area equal to two parking spots. 

Some lazy, cheap, rude, ignorant, loathesome humans who didn’t have the decency to do the right thing have now left their mess for a charitable organization to deal with.  My “proper” items easily fit inside the bin!  But this scattering of junk was clearly not meant to be a donation; instead the bin must have looked like a convenient – and free – site to divest themselves of unwanted flotsam.   It angered me to think that volunteers whose time could be better spent carrying out the charity’s mandate will now have to find a way to clean up all of this crap.

There is no excuse for conducting one’s life this way.  GTA regions all have “large item”  pick-up days.   This particular display of disregard is inexcusable.  And it gets in the way of what good people are trying to do for others.