A clothing bin is a

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

in which

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...

is placed to be donated to

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

organizations (e.g., the

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

or The Smith Family) or for

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

in other ways. They can be provided by

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

or the charities themselves but sometimes only bear the name of a charity through a licensing or revenue sharing agreement. The majority of clothing bins in Chicago, for instance, are for-profit. In 2015, a collection company in

Yonkers Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

was fined $700,000 for not disclosing the for-profit nature of their bin. Bins are often vandalised or filled with unsuitable materials (including rubbish). These are costly for the organizations concerned to dispose of, and this misuse has at times led to bins being withdrawn. On-the-spot

fines Fines may refer to: *Fines, Andalusia, Spanish municipality *Fine (penalty) * Fine, a dated term for a Lease#Leases_of_land, premium on a lease of land, a large sum the tenant pays to commute (lessen) the rent throughout the term * Fines, ore or oth ...

are often threatened through

sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...

s on the bins. In 2022, authorities in

Sydney, Australia Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean ...

reported that they had so far collected $70,750 in fines from a single bin in

Bondi Beach Bondi Beach () is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of ...

. A woman in

Stourport Stourport-on-Severn, often shortened to Stourport, is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of North Worcestershire, England, 4 miles to the south of Kidderminster and downstream on the River Severn from Bewdley. At the 2021 cens ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

was fined £400 for leaving bags outside a bin which did not have a warning sign but had her fine changed to a caution after she appealed. Homeless people have been known to climb into donation bins for shelter or to retrieve items but the most common bin design makes this dangerous. Eight such deaths were recorded in Canada between 2015 and 2019 and "easily a dozen" occurred in the United States over the preceding decade.

References

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* * Clothing containers Donation {{clothing-stub

See also

References

External links