Clothing bins return to Vancouver with safer, quieter design

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Almost a year after Vancouver gave the go-ahead, clothing bins are reappearing on city streets with a new design.

Clothing bins were banned in various municipalities two years ago after several people died after getting trapped inside.

Last fall, however, Vancouver lifted the ban and introduced a bylaw requiring the bins on city property to be certified by engineers.

James Docherty, with  Vancouver Firefighter Charities, says they started rolling out new clothing bins last week. He says the bins were designed in Germany and are far safer than the old ones.

“They’re built with redundancies of safety. People can’t crawl into them, they can’t tip them over as easy and they’re quieter for the community, as well,” Docherty points out. “There’s no way to crawl in there. You can’t get entrapped. With the old ones, you could freely jump in there. These are much better than the previous generation.”

He says the noise created by the old bins were an issue for neighbours, which has been addressed.

“They have noise pollution devices. They eliminate the squeakiness and the slamming of the latches.”

He says the new bins were meant to be introduced earlier in the year, but the firefighters had to work with the city, as the bins are located near fire halls on public property.

“We became a partner with the City of Vancouver. It sponsors our bins and we are supported by Vancouver Fire Rescue Services but we are run entirely by volunteers.”

He says after some deliberation and a COVID-related delay, 20 bins have been placed at nine fire halls.

He notes  the bin donations make up about ten per cent of charities’ revenue.

“In 2018, we raised just about $60,000 from these clothing banks, and with that, we’re able to fund our community-based programs.”

Money raised from bin donations goes towards funding various programs, including Snacks for Kids, which provides “nutritional support” for 2,500 vulnerable kids in Vancouver schools, and Lifelines for Seniors, a medical alert system.

Besides providing a revenue-stream, the firefighters point out in 2018 its Clothing Bank program diverted 180,000 kilograms of textiles from landfills to recycling depots.

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