Jessica Micallef and Oliver Lees
Charity’s Secret Op Shop in Riddells Creek has become the latest dumping ground for rubbish.
The op shop has had bags of rubbish ditched outside its collection point on two separate occasions in the past few months – the most recent incident on April 11.
Five horse feed bags filled with electrical material and building supplies were left at the Riddells Creek location.
The op shop’s co-ordinator Christine Clarke said volunteers were often having to sort through unwanted items.
“It’s disappointing that people in the area will do that to us,” she said.
“We do get heaps of donations and it’s all welcome, but like all op shops, we have our fair share of rubbish.
“Then we have to bear the cost of getting rid of it.
“We have a list of acceptable items displayed on our donation bins but people don’t take any notice.”
After reporting the most recent offence, Ms Clark said Macedon Ranges council employees arrived to assist in removing the trash.
Following a dumping incident in March, Ms Clark said it took “all day” for volunteers to sort through the rubbish.
She said because the op shop was only open for two and a half days, exterior donation bins were available to the community throughout the week.
“We are all volunteers and we aren’t young any more,” she said.
“I have been here since the stores inception in 1994 and we are more fortunate than others, we are in a small town so we don’t get it as bad and others do have more frequent dumping.”
