Habitat for Humanity opened up it’s “ReStore” back in 2017 to help families find homes, but now they say they’ve run into a problem of people donating items that would be better off in the trash.
“We understand that it’s going to be used, that it’s not brand new, but we do maintain a certain quality,” said Michael Fortner, a general manager for the ReStore. “We are not a landfill.”
Store manager say while a majority of their items meet this standard, there are some that cannot be sold within the store.
“We’ve had desks that fall apart as soon as we put them in the truck,” said Fortner, “sofas where entire legs are missing, and especially pet damages.”
While they’re appreciative for all the donations, those unfit for the store are costing the organization to transport them to the landfill.
“We have to pay the drivers and use our equipment in order to move the items to a dump,” said Fortner. “This takes away both time and money as we could be helping someone else, or getting another donation, but instead we are hauling these items to the nearest dump.”
Habitat Restore tries to stop people from dumping their items with multiple managers on site during drop-offs, and phone calls made inquiring about the items. However, they say the best way to stop this from happening is answering the question of, ‘Would you want this in your own home?’
If you would like to make a donation or get involved with the organization you can find more information HERE.
