An Aberdeen-based charity has been left to pick up the bill after furniture was dumped outside their premises.
The Instant Neighbour team arrived at their St Machar Drive base today to discover a sofa had been left outside.
They must now pay £120 to dispose of the item, and urged people not to fly-tip.
Instant Neighbour’s community connector Evan Adamson said: “Someone pulled up in a van and dumped the sofa.
“Because its been sat overnight we have to get rid of it as we don’t have the means to sterilize the item.”
Mr Adamson said it was an ongoing issue the charity faces, with any items left at the door out-of-hours having to be disposed of – resulting in cost pressures.
The premises has CCTV of the van which dumped the item and the police have been informed.
Due to coronavirus restrictions, the shop on St Machar Drive is currently closed and unable to took donations. It is only operating as a food bank at the moment.
Fly-tipping has peaked in the north-east over the past couple of years.
Councils recorded 127,625 incidents over the last two years, with spikes after the pandemic hit the nation and lockdown shut tips.
Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray noted sharp increases after lockdown while Highland recorded an increase just before.
Just last month, more than 150 tyres were dumped at Attadale Estate, a beauty spot near Strathcarron.
Including smaller numbers in Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles, there were 14,112 incidents between November 2018 and October 2020 across the north of Scotland.
Recycling centres in Aberdeen are currently open with some reduced services in place due to Covid-19.
Instant Neighbour will be accepting donations when the shop reopens April 26.