Council May Regulate Donation Bins Scattered About Los Angeles

A Los Angeles City Council committee today asked the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance that would regulate stand-alone charitable donation collective boxes, with one councilman calling the some of the boxes a "nuisance."

The proposed ordinance would require companies to seek a yearly city permit and fee for the placement of unattended donation boxes.

The companies also would be tasked with providing a current phone number that would be fixed to the box.

"They are a nuisance. I absolutely move forward with an ordinance to regulate these," said Councilman Mitch Englander, chair of the council's Public Safety Committee.

• Sometimes there's more to the donation bins than it first seems. An in-depth look at one that wasn't so charitable after all.

Englander pointed to the proliferation of the boxes, especially the ones on public right of ways and private property without permission and other locations that are difficult to enforce.

"When you see one box, you see two or three other companies put them up in the middle of the night," Englander said.

A representative from Planet Aid, which has 700 unattended charity boxes in Los Angeles and 20,000 nationwide, said the company welcomes regulation, adding that the service directs 20,000 tons of clothing that would otherwise be diverted to landfills.

--City News Service