However, Ms Mellor said the RSPCA was still suffering financially because many good-quality and otherwise sellable items were still having to be thrown away.
“People will root through the items, rip the bags open overnight,” she explained.
“Once it’s open and the elements can get to it, dogs go past and cock their leg – we don’t have facilities to wash and dry them.
“It is quite upsetting people could genuinely be thinking ‘I’ve got some really nice stuff for them here’ but, because it’s left outside, people steal them or they become damaged.”
The RSPCA has shops in Heywood, Middleton, Whitworth, Rochdale, Littleborough and Todmorden.
