Burnaby asks companies to remove clothing donation bins
The City of Burnaby is asking all not-for-profit agencies in the city to remove their clothing donation bins after several fatalities, including one in West Vancouver just over a week ago.
City manager Lambert Chu said the city has sent letters to all the charitable organizations with bins on private property, asking they be removed until better safety measures are in place.
Chu said the city doesn’t allow donation bins on city property, except for the ones at the Eco-Centre recycling depot on Still Creek Avenue.
“We are continuing to allow those bins because that site is fully staffed and after hours they are locked up and secure,” he said, adding that the city bins are the “mailbox” style and considered a bit safer.
“If people try to climb in, our staff will stop them. Or they can get them help. But on private property we don’t know whether they are unattended.”
Chu said there are no enforcement plans to make the organizations comply with the city’s request, but he doesn’t anticipate any problems. If the organizations don’t remove the bins then the city may take further steps, such as a bylaw, he said.
On Tuesday, a Toronto woman died after getting stuck inside a bin, while a 34-year-old Vancouver man died Dec. 30, just before the new year, after becoming trapped in a Community Living Society bin in Ambleside Park in West Vancouver.
The openings of the bins are designed to close after the donation has been placed inside the bin, but they can be deadly if someone positions themselves part way in the opening to reach in and grab clothes and the mechanism traps them.
In July 2018, a woman died in a Developmental Disabilities Association bin at the West Point Grey Community Centre in Vancouver; in March 2016, a 20-year-old man died in a clothing bin in Surrey; and in September 2015 a woman died in a bin in Pitt Meadows. One man died in a bin in Ontario last month, while another died in Calgary in 2017. There have also been deaths across the U.S.
Jeremy Hunka of the Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver said homeless people often turn to the bins for clothing or shelter without being aware of how dangerous they can be.
“It’s unthinkable, and it’s time to deal with this problem,” he said. “Too many of our guests who would otherwise have a shot at turning their lives around are dying a horrible death inside or hanging out of a bin.”
At least one charity said it’s actively working to retrofit its donation bins. Diabetes Canada announced the move last week and said 240 bins have already been adapted in Ontario alone.