Human teeth and soil dumped outside charity shop

Staff at the Break charity in Attleborough discovered the envelope, addressed to the tooth fairy, filled with human teeth, in a box left on its doorstep. Photo: Submitted (Image: Archant)

Kate Davies, manager at the Break charity shop on Church Street, Attleborough, said the box had been dumped while the shop was closed on Tuesday night and was completely blocking the doorway when she arrived at 8am on Wednesday.

The box had been ripped apart, spilling its contents across the pavement and the manager said it took her 20 minutes to clear a route to the door.

On closer inspection, Ms Davies discovered broken plant pots leaking soil, dirty clothes and an envelope addressed to the tooth fairy, filled with children's teeth, dated June 1988.

She said: 'This happens several times a week but today was particularly bad. We rely on generous donations from the public to keep the shop going but some unscrupulous people use us as a free dumping service, which is frustrating because we have to pay to dispose of this stuff.'

The shop's 360-litre bin was completely full by the time the mess was cleared and Ms Davies estimated the shop spent an extra £100 a month disposing of fly-tipped items.

She said: 'We don't mind climbing over bags full of stuff we can sell but some of the things we get are disgusting – you have to wear gloves to go through it. Once I found an old-fashioned pill box full of what I thought were beads. I tipped them into my hand to have a closer look and realised they were gallstones. It's really horrible.'

Break is not the only shop to be affected by fly-tipping.

Last week, a separate charity shop was left to deal with a double mattress and broken pieces of bed frame, which it had to pay to remove.

Ms Davies said: 'We have the most amazing support from the town and we don't want to lose that. However we do ask that people think about whether we will be able to sell an item before they bring it in.'