Last year, goods were dumped at the store during the break, leaving the Salvos with a large clean up bill.

This year the Salvos were prepared, avoiding a repeat of last year.

Salvation Army Captain Louise Nicholson praised the efforts of the volunteers.

“Last year we came into an enormous amount of dumped goods,” Captain Nicholson said.

“We learned from last year that we had to get on top of it.”

This year local volunteers turned up each day throughout the Christmas break to help clear the goods.

“This year we had people on site. We managed to manage the problem,” Captain Nicholson said.

“[What happened last year] was not the case this year in Cooma because of the faithfulness of our volunteers.”

Captain Nicholson said rubbish was a problem throughout the year but overall the message to not dump rubbish or unusable goods was getting through to people.

“We love the fact that people donate, but we would like to remind people to donate goods while the store is open so they won’t be damaged when left in the open.”

Store manager Cathy Ritchie said 90 per cent of people did the right thing and urged residents to think about what they were donating beforehand.

“If people are in doubt, come during shop hours, or give us a call at the store and ask,” she said.

Surveillance cameras were recently installed as a security measure.

...but not at Vinnies

The St Vincent De Paul Society store in Cooma is struggling to cope with the increase of rubbish, soiled clothes, broken furniture and electronics over the Christmas break.

Centre manager Suzanne Broder said the problem was ongoing but had become worse.

She described some of the items put in the charity bins and the stores chute as disgusting.

Food scraps, chicken carcases, filthy and soiled clothes and underwear are just some that have been discovered in the ‘donated goods’ this year.

Boxes of stained manchester, old broken shoes, stained underwear and clothing were being dropped off at the store on a daily basis.

Items that can’t be resold are taken to the tip and Vinnies have to pay the tip fees.

A large sign outlining the items Vinnies will not accept is displayed next to the chute outside the store but Mrs Broder said people continued to ignore it.

Some of the items include all electricals, mattresses and beanbags, bath supports and baby cots.