{"id":431313,"date":"2026-01-23T02:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431313\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T02:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:59:13","slug":"illegal-dumping-creates-eyesore-and-hard-work-at-sunshine-coast-op-shops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/431313\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal dumping creates eyesore and hard work at Sunshine Coast op shops"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunshine Coast op shop volunteers are fed up with “lazy” residents dumping their unwanted goods outside stores to avoid paying dump fees.<\/p>\n

After repeated incidents, they want Sunshine Coast Council to reinstate a kerbside collection program.<\/p>\n

Staff at Vinnies Caloundra arrived to work last week to find a pile of rain-soaked, broken furniture.<\/p>\n

Volunteer Kathryn Yule said the “unfair” burden had fallen onto elderly volunteers.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A dirty mattress, a couch and a car seat were some of the items dumped outside the Vinnies Caloundra store. (Supplied: Kathryn Yule)<\/p>\n

“There was a car seat, a baby seat, a lot of items we can’t physically sell and given that they’ve dumped them in very bad condition, they have to go to the tip,” Ms Yule said.<\/p>\n

“There was broken furniture, a bag that someone has ripped open and clothes have gone everywhere.”<\/p>\n

Ms Yule said tip fees were one of the factors leading to a rise in dumping.<\/p>\n

“I think everyone knows the donation rules \u2014 part of it is just laziness,” she said.<\/p>\n

“If they had kerbside collections, it would make such a difference.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Debbie Clayton says people regularly dump items at their store after hours. (Supplied: Debbie Clayton)<\/p>\n

Debbie Clayton, from the Beautiful You Funky Op Shop at Currimundi, said their volunteers had to take a load to the tip after it was dumped at their store after hours.<\/p>\n

“It’s very time-consuming. Things that are left outside the shop can be a real eyesore,” Ms Clayton said.<\/p>\n

“The girls just don’t have time to be going through stuff that isn’t even saleable.”<\/p>\n

Ms Clayton said it was upsetting.<\/p>\n

“Two weeks ago, we had someone come at two o’clock in the morning \u2014 that tells you something, doesn’t it?” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s rubbish that is not even saleable \u2014 they’ll even leave it in the rain.”<\/p>\n

Calls for kerbside collection<\/p>\n

Sunshine Coast Council discontinued its kerbside collection service in 2010, citing “high costs and low usage”, among other factors.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the council said it had been investigating options for large item waste services.<\/p>\n

“Kerbside clean-ups are not considered the most environmentally friendly approach for dealing with unwanted household items,” a council spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\"Items<\/p>\n

Kathryn Yule says people have broken the store’s skip bins and left a mess for volunteers to clean up. (Supplied: Kathryn Yule)<\/p>\n

“This is a position supported by Keep Queensland Beautiful, which encourages councils to implement innovative recycling initiatives and community collection days at waste resource stations.”<\/p>\n

In Queensland, residents caught illegally dumping can be fined $2,580, with larger volumes attracting up to $160,000 in fines.<\/p>\n

The council said it remained committed to facilitating resource recovery.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n

Kathryn Yule wants the council to reinstate kerbside collection. (Supplied: Kathryn Yule)<\/p>\n

“Kerbside collection is not seen as the current priority to achieve this outcome,” it said.<\/p>\n

Significant dumping<\/p>\n

In a separate incident, the state government and the Sunshine Coast Council are investigating the dumping of hundreds of tyres in a state forest at Beerwah.<\/p>\n

The discovery in early January has prompted authorities to increase surveillance in the area.<\/p>\n

Local member for Caloundra, Kendall Morton, said the environment department was investigating the “revolting act” and fire hazard.<\/p>\n

\"Tires<\/p>\n

Hundreds of tyres have been dumped in the Beerwah State Forest. (ABC Sunshine Coast: Jake Kearnan)<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the department said there was an ongoing investigation, but would not comment on specifics.<\/p>\n

“There is around 200 metres of dumped tyres, which is an absolutely revolting act in the middle of a national park,” Ms Morton said.<\/p>\n

“The department are looking into it as a very serious incident \u2014 I am confident that the people who are responsible for this will be held to account.<\/p>\n

“I have never seen anything like it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunshine Coast op shop volunteers are fed up with “lazy” residents dumping their unwanted goods outside stores to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,225786,75,51110,217396,128,225784,225785,180421,20266],"class_list":{"0":"post-431313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-dump","11":"tag-environment","12":"tag-illegal-dumping","13":"tag-op-shops","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-second-hand-stores","16":"tag-unwanted-goods","17":"tag-vinnies","18":"tag-waste-management"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}