Staff at the Cavan Monaghan Transfer Station start their workweek Monday morning sorting through broken furniture, textiles and other unsuitable items left by residents in the Re-Use Centre over the weekend. It can be a discouraging start to the day.
The Re-Use Centre is a valuable community resource that helps residents donate household items they no longer need and extending their useful life in another home. It might feel good to drop off some questionable items, hoping to divert them from the landfill, but in many cases it just adds another step on their journey.
Items including upholstered furniture, clothing and other textiles are among the items that are not accepted at the Re-Use Centre. These can be placed in the Diabetes Canada bins located on site. Also on the list of ineligible items is electrical appliances, which can be placed in the bin for electronic waste. Any items that contain Freon, such as dehumidifiers, fridges and water coolers cannot be donated either. Because of ongoing safety standard updates, the township cannot accept donations of baby items including cribs, car seats and playpens. Books, CD’s, DVD’s and vinyl records may be accepted by the township libraries.
The facility welcomes small furniture in good repair such as dressers and bookshelves, housewares bicycles and novelty items that are clean and in good working condition. These items will be kept for a period of time to allow residents the opportunity to take them home to extend their useful life.
Residents can help staff boost the effectiveness of this diversion effort by ensuring their donations consist of only clean and functional items. This will encourage Re-Use Centre “shoppers” to browse through the items on display and find that special item to take home without having to sort through a bunch of unappealing junk.