Waipuna Hospice has six charity shops across the district - and in 2019, legitimately getting rid of what was dumped at their doors cost the organisation $65,000.
''You imagine what you could do with $65,000. That's two nurses on the road, or imagine the things you could buy with 65 grand as opposed to spending 65 grand to get rid of other people's rubbish.''
But the problem isn't just people dumping goods that can't be sold in the shop.
''People who are genuine donors will drop off things out of hours and will just pop them by the garage door. On Wednesday morning and again [on Friday] morning I came to work and they'd all been rifled through. All the good stuff had been taken out of the genuine donations and all the stuff they don't want, they then decide they will spread it all around the carpark or they get into the skip and empty it out and that gets all over the carpark.
''So we are losing things we could sell and genuine donors, who maybe can't get to us during business hours, are leaving things out of the goodness of their hearts, but we're not getting the donations because somebody else is coming in and helping themselves.''
There are CCTV cameras around the shop and in the past Catherine has had some success in posting photos of vehicles, registration plates and people taken from the cameras.
''Last year I think I recouped about $650 from people. A couple came in an shamefacedly and gave me money and in one case, the boss recognised the work van so I was able to find the employee.
''So I do have ways that I can recoup this money, but obviously it's time and energy wasted that could be spent making money for Waipuna Hospice.''
Catherine is looking at getting a bigger skip that can be locked to prevent people getting in, but says that, again, is an additional cost.
''It's a very frustrating aspect of charity shops, but then on the flip side, we are talking about a very small minority. The majority of our donations from the Te Puke community and the wider Bay of Plenty area are beautiful donations."
Catherine said dumping at this time of year is often worse that at other times.
''This is the worst we've ever had it. Whether or not people are struggling for money and they think charities should get rid of their rubbish - I'm not sure.''
In 2020 it will cost Waipuna Hospice $8.8 million to provide its services. Money raised at Te Puke's shop and the other five shops goes towards the $81,000 per week needed to meet the shortfall in operating costs to allow free provision of services to patients and their families. Waipuna Hospice will care for around 1000 people in 2020.
Te Puke Anglican Care shop manager Gill Ludbrook says the shop has been relatively free of the dumping problem so far this year.
''We consider ourselves to be very lucky because we know the other two [charity shops] get a huge amount.''
There have, however, been problems in the past.
''We've got signs saying what we don't want and please don't leave things out of hours, but it makes no difference. People don't read the signs or choose to ignore the signs - it is very, very frustrating.
''It's rubbish and it's because people can't be bothered going to the dump.''
The Salvation Army, which runs Te Puke Family Store, did not respond to a request for comment.
