Clothing Donation Bins Continue to Serve as Dumping Grounds in Worcester

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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Patrick Sargent, GoLocalWorcester Reporter

At the last city council meeting, City Councilor Kate Toomey and Mayor Joe Petty requested that the City Manager provide a report concerning the recent actions to enforce Worcester's clothing donation receptacle ordinance.

Toomey said, "Over the past several years, we've all gotten a number of phone calls from people saying 'Oh my god, look at the dumping at these collection boxes.'”

"This year...it had gotten to a crisis point," Toomey added. "We would take things away and the next day it would be as if nothing had ever happened. It really boggles one's mind that a collection box for clothing is now all of a sudden is a collection boxes for couches...tvs...monitors, printers...It became a health and safety issue for the city. We have no idea what people are throwing in these bags and donating to the companies that have the boxes."

Crisis Not Averted on Grafton Hill

GoLocalWorcester previously reported in the article, “Multi-Million Dollar Non-Profit Owns Overflowing Donation Bins in Worcester,” that donation boxes in the parking lot at South Plaza on Grafton Street had been removed some time after Labor Day.

The article also pointed out that those donation bins, owned by the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, were continuously surrounded by trash dumped there. The boxes - two for clothes and shoes, and one for books - would routinely be the dumping grounds for furniture, televisions, yard waste, baby carriages and old mattresses.

Just days after GoLocal published the story, donation boxes were back in the same spot in the plaza. However, the boxes now belong to the Epilepsy Foundation.

And things have gotten substantially worse.

As can be seen in the pictures, the Epilepsy Foundation boxes are now serving as the home for all sorts of furniture, stuffed animals, and appliances - all of which sit outside already overflowing donation boxes.

At last check, there were three couches and a recliner outside the Epilepsy Foundation’s POD settled in a single parking space next to a sign that reads: “No Dumping. Area Under Surveillance.”

Earth Aid Boxes on Franklin St. Surrounded by Trash

Worcester's ordinance on clothing donation receptacles reads: "A clothing donation receptacle shall be regularly emptied of its contents so that it does not overflow and result in clothing donations being strewn about the surrounding area...The registrant shall maintain the area around the receptacle clean and free of trash." The ordinance also states that only clothing is allowed in the donation boxes.

According to Worcester’s ordinance, only 100 of these donation boxes can exist at a time in the city. The city regulates where they can be located. It is also at the City's discretion to order these boxes removed following routine dumping and uncleanliness.

On Franklin Street, an Earth Aid box in front of GM Belsito Sweeper Rentals is spilling over with clothes and bags of trash are piled up in front of it (pictured). A trail of clothes and trash goes back ten yards behind the donation box.

As GoLocalWorcester reported, for-profit Earth Aid, Inc., of 385 Cambridge Street in Worcester, owns multiple donation boxes throughout the city. According to what it reads on the boxes, Earth Aid donates a portion of their proceeds to the Friendly House in Worcester, a non-profit that offers social services to Worcester residents.

Attempts to contact Earth Aid’s president Wioletta Saleba  were unsuccessful. In fact, the website listed on the donation boxes, EarthAidRecycles.com, is not a working website. Each attempt at the phone number provided, 1-888-7-EARTH-0, played only a “telephone music DJ” and then went to a non-descript voicemail.

According to corporate filings of the state secretary’s office, Saleba is listed as Director, President, Secretary and Treasurer of Earth Aid, Inc.

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• Worcester Sidewalks Still Snow-Covered Despite Ordinance
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• Illegal Dumping Ruining Worcester Neighborhoods

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