More than 100 charity bins have been removed from Melbourne’s railway stations and replaced by bins from a private for-profit recycling company.
Southern Cross Recycling, which Metro hired to exclusively manage charity recycling bins on railway land, now owns and manages all 220 bins at stations for its own income.
According to Metro, 130 bins at 70 stations have been removed in the last six years. Southern Cross Recycling now exclusively owns and manages all 220 clothing bins at 90 stations, and collects the revenue. Metro also now earns a fee from each bin, when it earned nothing from the charities.
Michael Rawlinson, St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria’s retail operations manager, said it was ‘‘disgusting’’ that Metro allowed commercialisation to replace charity. St Vincent de Paul had about 20 bins at railway stations five years ago, he said, but was asked to remove them all.
In 2010, without a tender process, Metro gave Southern Cross Recycling the contract to place and manage all clothing bins at stations. Southern Cross can ask bin owners for bins to be removed with Metro approval.
Subsequently, some charities such as the Brotherhood of St Laurence and Red Cross chose to sell their bins to SCR, due to vandalism and the poor quality of donated goods.
But in other cases, Southern Cross Recycling sent letters to charities, directing them to remove their bins from railway land. Bryan Godfrey, manager of Paravin, a division of the Spine & Limb Foundation, said his organisation was asked in February 2011 to remove all 24 bins from sites at 12 railways stations including at Ringwood, Glen Waverley, Montmorency and Thomastown.
However, a Metro spokeswoman said SCR had been warning Paravin for ‘‘non-compliance with its code of conduct’’ for three months.
Fairfax Media has seen a October 27, 2010, letter Southern Cross Recycling wrote to Mark Glew, manager of the company Lynmarc, asking his charity clients to remove the 15 bins that raised money for charities including Deafness Foundation and Team Life.
When charities’ bins were on Metro land, they paid no fees or rent for the privilege.
Although SCR initially paid no fees or rent to manage the bins, for the past two years Metro has charged Southern Cross a $175 per bin administration fee.
Of the $69,000 Metro earned, $30,000 has gone to Keep Australia Beautiful for station tidiness programs and the remainder to community groups for gardens and murals.
Southern Cross Recycling Group chief executive Enzo Bruscella said the company had offered charities the opportunity to purchase goods from the bins at a low cost.
Mr Bruscella said the company offered ‘‘value to the community’’ by providing nine jobs for people with disabilities for every 60 bins, through the organisation Australian Disability Enterprises.
Metro spokeswoman Pauline O’Connor said Metro wanted to ‘‘strike a balance’’ between supporting the community and environment, and needed to keep the platforms free from rubbish dumping.
‘‘Charities can apply to Metro to have clothing recycling bins at railway stations and if the application is approved, charities are bound by a code of conduct to manage their bins,’’ she said.
