• Charities educating the community on standards for donated goods
• Advice on how to donate appropriately to charities

Five leading charities are tackling the problem of illegal dumping at donation points, with the launch of a website that offers information and practical tools to make sure donated goods can be used by charities to benefit the community.

Made possible by a $100,000 grant from the State Government through the Waste Authority, the website giv.org.aufeatures a searchable map of collection points and interactive content that details what is and is not suitable for donation.

Environment Minister Albert Jacob said the website would help to reduce illegal dumping at the charities’ premises.

“The practical information on the website will make donating unwanted goods a lot easier. Importantly, people will have peace of mind knowing that they are giving their items to registered charities,” Mr Jacob said.

“The website also has useful advice on how people can recycle goods that aren’t fit for donation.  Charities have to cover the costs of disposing damaged or unsuitable items, which can run into thousands of dollars.

“Overall, the potential benefits of this campaign are enormous.  Better disposal of goods will result in less waste going to landfill and support the valuable role these charities play in the community.”

The launch of the website complements the State Government’s recent announcement of the Better Practice Program for Charitable Recyclers.

The program will include grants for charities to implement measures to discourage illegal dumping and offer rebates to participating charitable recyclers to reduce the cost of disposing of the illegally dumped waste at landfill sites.

As recommended in the Western Australian Waste Strategy: Creating the right environment, the State Government target is to divert 65 per cent of municipal solid waste in the Perth metropolitan region away from landfill by 2020.