Headache for Ludlow furniture charity as rubbish dumped instead of being taken to tip
A Ludlow charity has been forced to temporarily suspend donations as it struggles to cope with rubbish dumped on its doorstep.
The Furniture Scheme restores and resells unwanted furniture, but in recent months items which should be taken to the tip have been left in its yard.
Staff say the problem is now out of control and that the yard is full of items that they cannot use.
Chief executive Jean Jarvis MBE said: "We’ve always been so grateful to the local public for their donations of unwanted household items which we use to help people in need.
"We’ve been struggling to keep up with the increase of uncontrolled deliveries to our premises but we’ve reached breaking point and this is a cry for help.
"A once-a-month community skip would help, as would fencing and gating our yard because, as a charity, we can’t afford the fencing and gates needed to control the site.
"We’ve contacted the local council to start the process of helping us solve what has become a very real problem to us."
Ms Jarvis said the problem started when the civic amenity site in Coder Road closed in 2014, and since then there has been a steady increase in items being left outside either out of hours or when the team are dealing with customers.
"Over the last few month this has increased out of all proportion and people are dumping trailer and van loads of household items that cannot be recycled repaired or reused," she added.
"Staff and volunteers are now spending a lot of time sorting and processing what they can and driving the rest to the waste centre at Craven Arms.
Complaints
"There is a huge cost and time implication to this, besides the stressful conditions that staff and volunteers are now under as they try to deal with this alongside their normal roles."
The charity, which was launched over 20 years ago to benefit some of the most excluded members of the community, is now getting complaints from neighbours because the yard at the back of the warehouse on Weeping Cross Lane is unsightly.
As a result, the charity is suspending all collections - other than those already booked in - through July to deal with the problem.
Shropshire Councillor Vivienne Parry, for Ludlow South, is spearheading a campaign to help improve the situation.
She said: "It is a shame some people feel they can treat the site as a dumping ground, this greatly hampers the work they do.
"I would call upon these people to use the designated recycling centre in Craven Arms and think before they either donate items or leave items outside the charity.
"I do appreciate that sometimes people do not have the money or the transport to dispose of it properly and I am going to talk to the council and see if they can put a skip out occasionally and try to get the leader of the Council Peter Nutting to come down to Ludlow and see the problem."
