ATHABASCA — Staff at the Riddle Thrift Store and Athabasca Native Friendship Centre have dealt with after-hours garbage and unsanctioned donation dumping on the lot for more than 15 years, making additional, hazardous work for employees on a weekly basis.
But after more than a month of unexpected changes to the centre’s garbage removal services and an increase in unacceptable items left at the centre, staff are putting their foot down and asking the community to stop treating their donation bins and deck as a no-cost landfill.
“It’s been happening for so long, I feel like people are saying ‘Hey, you don’t have to go to the dump, you can go to the Friendship Centre,” said ANFC program coordinator Kendra Pritchard.
Darlene Vassair is a part-time store clerk at Riddles who officially joined the team after volunteering at the centre. In her 15-year tenure with ANFC in different capacities, she said the unsanctioned donations have been an issue “forever, absolutely forever.”
“Some of it is just pure garbage that we get, you can’t say anything else — it’s garbage,” she added. “It makes it hard on us because they dump it outside of our hours, and then we get people who come along and strew it all over the place.”
Riddles has four large yellow donation bins on the sidewalk alongside the centre, intended for donations of clothing and soft items open regardless of store hours, as long as they aren’t full.
Solid objects in good condition can be placed in the shingled brown bin during regular operating hours, but only if the bins doors are open — closed doors indicate Riddles cannot accept any more large, solid items. Donations larger than the box, made outside store hours, or after Riddles has reached capacity are not to be left on the sidewalk.
But despite numerous signs indicating donations of furniture and car seats, soiled clothing and broken items cannot be accepted, in addition to regular posts on social media channels detailing donation criteria, staff continue to be swamped with unusable items and household garbage.
“It’s an ongoing problem, and not so much now, but people were dropping glass and knives and stuff in the yellow bins. Well, our people go in to take that stuff out don’t realize that there’s sharps in there, and somebody’s going to get hurt badly,” said Vassair.
Although the deposits of sharps has slowed recently, the short roster of staff — two full-time employees at Riddles, and three in the centre — are always on the lookout for bags of trash and broken items, and often beyond their working hours.
Vassair said she frequently makes trips to the centre after the work week has finished to ensure the lot is tidy, free of garbage, and not littered with unacceptable items.
“We’re supposed to be enjoying our weekend, not thinking about ‘Oh, there’s probably a lot of donations out there that are getting scrambled through,” said Pritchard.
Dumpster troubles
Thanks to the constant dumping, Vassair and Pritchard said staff fill the ARWSC dumpster on site at least twice a week. Garbage pickup runs Tuesdays and Fridays, and Vassair said the bin is always full by day three.
“That’s how much trash we produce, mostly because we get a bunch of garbage. It’s not sellable, and why anybody would drop it off here is beyond me, but people are people,” said Vassair.
But in early May, staff had a lot more work on their hands after the dumpster — housed at the bottom of the alley behind the centre, next to Tracker’s large standing sign — was removed.
“This is a struggle for our business, it really hinder(ed) our operations,” said Pritchard.
The dumpster, which had originally been located along 53 street between the centre and the commercial building to the north, was moved to the back of the centre after being deemed unsightly by the municipality due to overflowing garbage piled around it.
When winter hit, the bin had to be moved to the bottom of the alley, as the garbage truck couldn’t traverse the steep, icy climb. But once new development started in the lot directly east of Trackers, Athabasca Regional Waste Services Commission (ARWSC) couldn’t access the bin there either, and with no reversing onto the highway permitted, made the call to remove the dumpster entirely.
“We fully understand the challenges that come with development, but the removal of our bin poses a serious issue for our operations,” wrote Pritchard in a May 8 email to the town requesting support.
“Without a solution in place for waste disposal, we risk being forced to suspend or shut down store operations altogether.”
For four weeks in May and June, the centre went without a place to put the overwhelming amount of unusable donations, and had no choice but to make personal concessions in order to keep the store and centre programming running smoothly.
“Now, myself and our other store managers have actually taken it upon ourselves to use our personal vehicles to take garbage from here to the dump, and that costs probably $15 per truckload,” said Pritchard.
“I’m frustrated. It keeps me up at night because there’s the wear and tear on our vehicles, (staff) might back into something and then I’d feel terrible,” she added. “It is a stressor on me, I mean I’m pregnant and I’m doing to the dump, there’s a potential for injury.”
Pritchard said the costs of the two or three trips made weekly would likely exceed the monthly dumpster fee with ARWSC, but higher rates from other service providers in the area, the centre’s limited budget, and an unusual assortment of waste meant personal runs were the best option.
“A lot of them want it bagged — a lot of our stuff isn’t baggable,” said Vassair. “You’ve got pots and pans that are rusted through. Yeah, you can throw them in a bag, but it gets too heavy. We box a lot of stuff to throw it out, so it’s just not feasible for us.”
Other options entertained included putting an external, lockable shed behind the centre to avoid staff having to move garbage in and out of the store daily. But after digging further into the process, Pritchard said timelines for the permitting process and costs for necessary ground-levelling work made the shed solution untenable.
Extra expenses for the centre and store could mean an increase in prices for shoppers at Riddles, or a cessation of services altogether; changes staff don’t want to have to make.
“A lot of them are families that don’t have a lot of money, which is why they shop here. Some of our customers are well-off and can definitely afford to shop other places, but a lot of our customers are not,” said Vassair.
Riddles also provides houseless individuals with free clothing and necessities, especially warm garments like mitts, toques, and boots in the wintertime.
“It’s disheartening because we are a nonprofit, so we’re not out to make money, but at the same time we need to be able to maintain,” said Pritchard.
Not a dumping ground
Four weeks after its removal, the centre’s dumpster is now back in its original location, along 53 Street between the centre and its commercial neighbour. Pritchard said in May she gained permission from the commercial property owner to use the cement pad between buildings to house the bin again, and an end to the dump trips was in sight.
‘No parking’ signs were installed by the town in front of the pad on June 9, the final hurdle to replacing the bin. While the wait was frustrating for Pritchard, Vassair, and other staff, the team is more than glad to have their waste removal services restored.
“We as staff honestly feel a sense of relief and gratitude,” wrote Pritchard in an email follow-up. “It’s been a long road, and having the proper signage and a dedicated garbage bin in place makes a huge difference in our day-to-day operations.”
Although the centre and Riddles didn’t have to resort to cutting back programming, raising prices, or shutting the store down entirely this spring, Pritchard and new Executive Director Darlene Woodward said those options are still on the table if the dumping of garbage and unusable items continue.
The centre still runs the risk of being flagged for unsightly premises under the town’s new community standards bylaw if garbage and unusable donations continue to pile up around the bin.
Pritchard, Riddle staff, Woodward are considering incentives like providing a discount for shoppers who donate acceptable items in order to hold clientele accountable and encourage appropriate donations, but for now are asking for community courtesy.
“Please do not leave items outside the bins. Please do not treat the Centre as a dumping ground,” wrote Woodward in a written statement.
“We are doing our best to keep our area clean, welcoming, and functional for all. When people leave unsorted or unusable donations—or worse, garbage—it not only creates more work, it compromises the integrity of the space we’ve worked hard to maintain.”
