Illegal dumping piles up thousands in costs for SE Portland thrift store

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Illegal dumping is taking a costly toll on a Southeast Portland nonprofit thrift store, racking up thousands of dollars in cleanup fees.

Surveillance cameras captured footage of one person dumping debris outside the store, contributing to a growing pile of trash and discarded items. Store managers shared the video with FOX 12 as they struggle to handle the recurring mess and financial burden.

“You name it, people will dump it here, it’s pretty bad,” said St. Vincent De Paul Manager Matteo Fusco.

Rather than vintage finds, piles of trash are being left behind at the St. Vincent De Paul thrift store in Southeast Portland.

“We’ve seen tons of drug paraphernalia, used needles in the hundreds, and masked under other trash which makes it so we don’t even want to come in this area, we just don’t feel safe doing it,” said Fusco.

Over the past few weeks, Fusco said there’s been no limit to what’s dumped, including a boat left behind this week that was caught on camera.

“It probably would have cost them a couple hundred dollars to go to the dump and we do feel a little bit victimized,” said Fusco.

Fusco said the dumping happens almost daily, costing over $2,000 and requiring around 15 hours of cleanup over the past few weeks, creating an ongoing headache for staff.

“It’s dangerous and takes a lot of time out of our day, when we could be doing other things,” said Fusco.

“Everybody here cares about the mission and we definitely don’t want to want to have to spend money on stuff like this. We’re here to help the community, that’s why all of us work here it’s mission driven and that’s important to all of us,” said Supervisor Tim Smith.

Fusco said they have alerted police, hoping that will help finally catch the dumpers and stop the pileup.

“When it’s at this level of kind of disregard, and clearly dump-trashing, I think people are clearly putting their problem on us and just don’t care,” said Fusco.