Reducing illegal dumping at charity donation bins and shops

NSW’s charitable recycling sector plays a crucial role in the re-use of household items, textiles and other goods across the state. It offers people an opportunity to dispose of unwanted goods, diverting them from landfill or, potentially, from being illegally dumped.

The EPA is committed to working with charitable recyclers to help reduce the amount of illegal dumping at donation bins and shops, and has released an Implementation Plan outlining how we will reduce illegal dumping using the 6 approaches outlined in the NSW Illegal Dumping Prevention Strategy 2022-2027 (PDF 2.8MB). These are:

• moving towards a circular economy
• collaboration and capacity building
• services, infrastructure and clean-up
• behaviour change, awareness and engagement
• regulation, enforcement and legislative reform
• growing our evidence through research, monitoring and evaluation.

The EPA will continue to encourage responsible donation behaviour, prompting the public to think more about the quality of their donated items, to help reduce dumping around charity bins and shopfronts and to contribute to the circular economy.