Thanks for posting this, especially about the local groups. (I forgot those because I get the impression they're either not very well-developed here and/or have a lot of scammers/timewasters.)
It's very true about the overwhelm in terms of volume. And, yes, we sometimes get boxes where someone's clearly just dumped out the contents of a deceased parent's bathroom cabinets, half-used toiletries and all. (I know clearing a house after a death is difficult; I've done it. But it's not so difficult you need to do THAT. Use your own damn general rubbish bin!) I'd much rather get the hastily dumped-out contents of a kid's toybox, because we may be able to make something of that.
I think it's also got worse here since the council-run tips/dumps/recycling centres, which are free for individuals to use, introduced a booking system, so that you have to book a slot and go at that pre-determined time, rather than just turning up when you've loaded the car. (It was a Covid measure and it does make sense in ensuring there aren't queues of cars trying to get in at busy times, but it has made it more difficult.)
We're lucky in that our shops do get paid (a very small amount) for most of our rejects. The issue for us is not having a lot of storage space for that in the back of the shop and our pick-ups by the recycling people semi-regularly going wrong (generally that they can't fit all of it on their van because they do a pick up at one of our other shops first).
no subject
It's very true about the overwhelm in terms of volume. And, yes, we sometimes get boxes where someone's clearly just dumped out the contents of a deceased parent's bathroom cabinets, half-used toiletries and all. (I know clearing a house after a death is difficult; I've done it. But it's not so difficult you need to do THAT. Use your own damn general rubbish bin!) I'd much rather get the hastily dumped-out contents of a kid's toybox, because we may be able to make something of that.
I think it's also got worse here since the council-run tips/dumps/recycling centres, which are free for individuals to use, introduced a booking system, so that you have to book a slot and go at that pre-determined time, rather than just turning up when you've loaded the car. (It was a Covid measure and it does make sense in ensuring there aren't queues of cars trying to get in at busy times, but it has made it more difficult.)
We're lucky in that our shops do get paid (a very small amount) for most of our rejects. The issue for us is not having a lot of storage space for that in the back of the shop and our pick-ups by the recycling people semi-regularly going wrong (generally that they can't fit all of it on their van because they do a pick up at one of our other shops first).