Bags of dog hair, half empty beer cans and second hand sex toys among gut-wrenching junk donated to Catholic op shop in Broome

Sometimes one man’s trash is another man’s treasure — but usually it is just another man’s trash. This is a reality all too true for the scarce number of volunteers at the St Vincent Pallotti Broome Op Shop who are forced to rummage through more than a tonne of junk every week to pluck out useful donations for disadvantaged Kimberley residents. While the store asks community members to generously hand over neat clothes, clean furniture and intact household items, it is instead lumped with about 1200kg of rubbish each week that is nothing short of illegal dumping. Diocese of Broome worker Ronaldo Saraza loads up at least two truck trays worth of the junk each week and said the items donated were often gut-wrenching. In just under a year at the op shop, Mr Saraza said he had come across a zip-up bag of second hand sex toys, a bin bag full of dog hair, half discarded Emu Export cans, high-vis work clothes dripping in mud, underwear stained by faeces, broken shoes, sandy towels and wet clothes. “It is really disgusting, it is just junk, nothing but junk,” he said. “For us to take this to the tip to get rid of it, it has cost us sometimes up to $240 each week and takes a large amount of time to go though. “What we are after is things we can reuse, give to others, which means if you would not use it yourself or wear it yourself or give it to your friend or family to use or wear then do not give it to us.” He said others may not realise that the items they are dropping off are not wanted. The store, which is run by the Diocese of Broome, delivers the useable donations to as far as Bidyadanga, Halls Creek, Kalumburu, Fitzroy Crossing and Derby. Op shop manager Assumption Sister Naomi said more volunteers were needed to help out the region’s most disadvantaged. “There are very few volunteers here, we do appreciate any help that we can get,” she said. “It is rewarding, we always try and encourage those who do come past to always come back.” The shop is behind the Father McMahon Place soup kitchen.