An uptick in illegal dumping and a growing number of donation bin sites has prompted the City of Richmond to impose stricter regulations, including new fees for charitable organizations.
The new regulations and fees passed through Richmond city council Monday evening.
“We’ve all seen the proliferation of donation bins around the city and, in some cases, seen the mess from, perhaps, too many donations or people just using the bins as a dumping ground,” said Coun. Linda McPhail, speaking favourably to the city’s report.
The report, from the public works department, notes there are about 100 bins located on both city and private land.
Aside from illegal dumping, the bins have attracted vandals. Furthermore, they’ve posed sightline issues for traffic at intersections.
The new regulations will only impact bins on city-owned properties.
The city will now charge a $100 application fee for charitable organizations wanting to use city land for a bin. The city will also begin charging cleanup fees.
As well, the city will be limiting the number of donation bins to 50 across the city; each site will only be allowed a maximum of three bins.
Organizations will need to apply to have their bins stay on city-owned land.
The city will limit bins on city land to charitable organizations registered with the Canada Revenue Agency.
All for-profit and other donation bin operators will continue to be able to negotiate separate arrangements for locations on private property, the report notes.
Notably, across North America, a number of for-profit bins have made it unclear to donors whether the donations they make are actually going to a charity.
The CRA website has a search tool for people to find out if a bin is, in fact, a charity.
According to the report, the CRA defines a registered charity as one that relieves poverty, advances education or religion or benefits the community.
The city hopes the regulations will make it more clear for Richmondites to donate at an appropriate bin.
The city noted the recent growth of bins around the city could be attributed to a recent ban of all bins on public land in Burnaby. The fees are expected to be cost neutral as they will pay for bylaw enforcement of the regulations.
