Many Kiwis are using lockdown to have a clear out of their homes, but The Salvation Army is urging New Zealanders to hold off on dropping off donations while in alert level four.
Rubbish bags full of clothes, old chairs, tables and even a carseat have been left strewn outside one Auckland Salvation Army store.
But the donations are unable to be collected by store staff while New Zealand is in alert level four lockdown, which means many items will end up in the landfill.
"We are concerned that people may not be aware that The Salvation Army cannot process donations dropped to our Family Stores during lockdown," a spokesperson said.
"Like other shops, we are not able to open, and our staff are not allowed to be in store, so there is no way to sort the donations. Anything left outside our stores has to remain there until it is either taken to the tip by councils, or lockdown ends. This means these donations go to waste."
The Salvation Army said they value donations - but there is "no value in donations that end up in the tip".
"We are asking people to hold off dropping donations off to us until we are able to open again. We also ask that people only drop donations in during our opening hours, not on weekends or after hours."
Anyone unsure about the store's hours are asked to visit their website or call their local store once restrictions have been lifted.
The same issue occurred during New Zealand's first lockdown in 2020 when many Salvation Army stores were left looking like dumping grounds due to uncollected donations.
"It's a common problem across the city in normal times, but we are seeing a rise in dumping outside Salvation Armies which is really disappointing," Auckland Councillor Richard Hills said at the time.
"There is often a huge cost to dumping that rubbish and often that cost sits with the charities we're helping so that's really unfair at a time that those charities will be finding it tough.
