Bedbugs and thrift store donations

July 19, 2015 12:17 PM

What sort of processes do Goodwill, Salvation Army and other major thrift stores follow to treat donations that might be infected with bedbugs or other pests? This is for a situation where someone has recently had bedbugs and is afraid to go through with some planned donations to charity, but also hates to throw perfectly decent items into the garbage.
posted by bunderful to Shopping (10 answers total)

If someone has had a bedbug infestation, they should not donate any items to Goodwill or other charities. The only exception would be nonporous things like utensils.
posted by girl flaneur at 12:21 PM on July 19, 2015 [22 favorites]

I should add that my answer is not based on first person experience with donation centers but common sense (mixed with the trauma of living in cities with big bedbug problems):
Donation dropoff locations are usually attached to the thrift store in question. Even if an intake center heat-treated every new item (which I'm sure they don't) the bed bugs could travel to other areas of the store before the item is treated.

I hate wastefulness too, but many more items will be heading to the landfill if your bedbugs spread.
posted by girl flaneur at 12:32 PM on July 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

Major charity thrift stores are not treating donations for pests; they don't even wash stuff, they don't have the resources at that price point. They rely on trusting their patrons not to donate garbage, and throwing away anything that is visibly garbage. Please tell your friend not to donate anything that might be infested with bedbugs.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:35 PM on July 19, 2015 [8 favorites]

Best answer: Yes, if there may be bedbug eggs in the items, please don't donate them. Think of it this way: if the donated items end up giving someone else an infestation, not only is that stressful for them but the treatment procedures will also likely have a net negative effect on the environment, between chemicals and all of the laundry to do and so forth. Tossing stuff is better.
posted by needs more cowbell at 1:18 PM on July 19, 2015 [7 favorites]

A lot of my friends worked at, or still work at a couple thrift stores close to my house.

They do absolutely nothing. They don't have the facilities or resources to do anything.

One store had a perpetual problem with bed bugs for quite a while, which was sort of an open secret/rumor. I'm pretty sure several people i know got bed bugs from working at one of the stores. For a while me and my partner were so paranoid that we were drying everything we bought before bringing it home.
posted by emptythought at 1:19 PM on July 19, 2015

Is there a reason this person can't just hold onto the items until a few months after they've been given the all-clear from a professional? It doesn't sound like there's any time pressure here.

Otherwise, it may seem like a waste to junk perfectly good items, but a Goodwill in San Francisco recently had to junk an entire warehouse worth of items because of a bedbug scare, which is of course a much bigger waste.
posted by en forme de poire at 1:27 PM on July 19, 2015 [4 favorites]

As someone who gets lots of things from Goodwill, please ask your friend not to donate anything to Goodwill that could possibly have a bedbug or eggs in it. This is a terror to many people, and even the best of intentions can really be terrible for the received of the item. Unfortunately trash is really the only real option.
posted by Toddles at 3:46 PM on July 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

My local Goodwill will not accept anything that could be infected.
posted by Raybun at 3:50 PM on July 19, 2015

They are not "perfectly decent Items" if they are infested.
posted by crw at 5:52 PM on July 19, 2015 [5 favorites]

Here is my suggestion: that they wait until they are sure they are free of bedbugs and have been for several weeks or, ideally, months. they need to get an exterminator on the case, no folk remedies.

They should launder all the items at 60 degrees, then put them through the dryer at 60 degrees for 60 minutes and seal them tightly in black plastic garbage bags which they should not open until they are declared free of infestation. Really they should do this with everything that can be laundered, not just stuff for donation, and be careful carrying the things through the house.

After this, most likely the items will be safe to donate, but also, without this kind of treatment the things WON'T BE SAFE TO THROW AWAY. Improper disposal of infested items is also how infestations get spread.
posted by tel3path at 6:52 AM on July 20, 2015 [1 favorite]