Majority of British Columbians want to ban clothing donation bins: poll

Jan 16 2019, 1:57 am

After both the City of Vancouver and District of West Vancouver made the decision to remove clothing donation bins following the recent deaths of two individuals who got stuck in the bins, a new poll has found that a majority of British Columbians wouldn’t mind seeing the bins gone altogether.

In an online representative sample survey conducted by Research Co., 70% of British Columbians said they agreed with banning all clothing donation bins in their municipality following the fatalities.

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A similar amount (71%), said they believe that charities should find a way to collect clothes without having to use donation bins, and 73% said they would have “no problem” taking clothes to a specific facility for donation, instead of relying on the bins.

Still, when it comes to province-wide figures, the poll found that  69% of residents have donated clothes to a charity through a bin or drop box over the course of the past year. Women (76%) and British Columbians aged 55 and over (also 76%) are the most likely to have placed garments in a clothing donation bin over the past 12 months.

“All demographic groups in British Columbia are voicing support for the elimination of clothing donation bins,” said Research Co. President Mario Canseco. “It is important to note that majorities of the heaviest current users of these containers — women and residents aged 55 and over — say they are willing to travel to a specific venue to make their donations.”

On January 2, the District of West Vancouver announced that it had closed donation bins and is “looking into options for removing them or using bins that are more secure.”

The City of Vancouver made a similar announcement on January 3, stating that its decision to remove all donation bins from street right-of-ways (SROW) came after a woman got trapped inside a bin in July 2018 and died.

DH Vancouver StaffDH Vancouver Staff

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