Diabetes Canada is reminding customers that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pick-up of all textile donations from homes and donation bins across Canada stopped on March 23, 2020.
This also resulted in the temporary layoff of more than 500 staff who manage the donation bin service.
However, some residents continue to drop off donations and some individuals are using Diabetes Canada donation bins to dump garbage and more, which could pose a serious health and safety issue.
Diabetes Canada does not have the financial resources to deploy staff to clean the garbage around its more than 5,000 bins. The charity has contacted government agencies to help remove the garbage however they have not yet been successful.
With an extended stoppage of service, Diabetes Canada has lost one of its major sources of revenue which impacts millions of Canadians with diabetes and prediabetes. Charitable clothing donations are a crucial source of revenue that supports diabetes research, sends kids with Type 1 diabetes to camp and sustains efforts to end the fight against diabetes.
Additionally, more than 100 million pounds of textiles are diverted from landfills annually.