Lifeline Forster manager Peita Dent is angry over the sheer volume of unusable items dumped.

December brought heightened stress for the Forster store with 75 tonnes of rubbish sent to the Tuncurry Waste Management Centre.

This equated to a cost of $19,500 out of the charity’s funds for this month alone.

"I think it's because people don't want to pay the dumping cost because it is expensive. When they know it's rubbish that's when it's not fair," Peita said. 

More recently the store has been forced to take waste to the Bucketts Way Waste Management Facility- a near 40 minute trip out of town. Peita believes members of the public need to be better educated on the proper method to donate.

“It’s not that we don’t want the donations but we’re here from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon,” Peita said. 

Volunteers have been known to take up to three and a half hours to dispose of the items each day. Among the items, household rubbish is consistently discovered dumped in charity bins and across the front of the store.

"We appreciate everybody's donations but when it's pure rubbish and getting people’s dirty clothes and broken soccer shoes it's ridiculous,” Peita said.

In the wake of a mass item dump at Taree’s Salvation Army Family Store two weeks ago, store manager Danielle Volkers believes surveillance cameras and signs are not the answers to combating the problem.

"Just trying to let the community know more often or maybe what we need and don't need.'

"It's hard to get surveillance up and running and even when we do it doesn't always pan out anyway so I think trying to keep everyone informed is a good way to do it,” Danielle said.

Danielle believes that dumpers are not feeling remorseful for their actions.

"I think it is the anonymity of it all."

"You can just do it without fear and 'nobody knows that I'm doing it’."

"They just don't think about the bigger picture of it all; we're not really a rubbish collector, we're there to give those in the community a bit of a hand and somewhere they can come, get things at a fraction of the cost and get the things they want.” Danielle said.

The NSW government has issued a warning to people about dumping at charities over the summer holidays.