IDEAS ON HOW TO REGULATE A SUCCESSFUL

DONATION BOX PROGRAM IN YOUR CITY

Campus California

Prepared for:

City of Surprise, AZ

Donation Boxes

Page | 2

DONATION BOXES

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Table of Contents: 3

Intro: 4

About The Author 4

What are others doing? 4

The Needs of Your City: 5

Options 6

Recommendations 7

Attachments: 8

INTRO: The purpose of this work is to give the reader suggestions about different options

available for a city staff to regulate placement of unattended donation boxes. We

understand that the City is looking for a fairly simple and inexpensive process that

would allow the operation of various donation collection programs and in the same time

allow the city of effectively oversee the entities that run these programs and the

locations of the various kinds of donation boxes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Campus California is a non-profit organization operating a clothing donation program

using unattended donation boxes in the San Francisco Bay Area. We service over 950

individual locations in over a hundred municipalities. The collected items are sold on the

used clothing market and the proceeds are used to fund volunteer training programs

and to expand textile reuse and recycling.

Campus California is in a process of starting a clothing donation program in the Phoenix

Metro Area, and while in some cities there already are some entities that use donation

boxes to collect clothing, we believe that our presence here will be beneficial. Our focus

is to get the whole community onboard with our efforts. We approach smaller, family

owned businesses, get them talking to their neighbors and customers about the need to

reuse textiles and then place boxes close to where people live and buy their daily

groceries. It is our experience that smaller business owners are happy to promote a

good program with their customers and are often very helpful in ensuring that any

potential operational issues with a box are resolved quickly.

WHAT ARE OTHERS DOING? The majority of the cities in Phoenix metro area have elected to go with “complaint-

based regulation”. There are no specific regulations pertaining donation boxes in the

zoning codes of many cities, but if there are any problems with the appearance or

location of boxes, they can still be dealt with through the established nuisance

abatement procedures.

Not Regulating, 10

Allowed by Right, 2

Permits Required, 3

Not Allowed, 1

Phoenix Metro Area Cities

The following table provides a brief overview of the major cities in Phoenix Metro and

their approach to donation boxes:

City Regulated as Conditions

Phoenix No Complaint-based enforcement

Chandler No Complaint-based enforcement

Surprise No Currently considering regulatory options

Maricopa County No Complaint-based enforcement

Avondale No Complaint-based enforcement

Goodyear No Complaint-based enforcement

Buckeye No Complaint-based enforcement

Queen creek No Complaint-based enforcement

Paradise valley No Complaint-based enforcement

Apache Junction No Complaint-based enforcement

Peoria Recycling Collection Point Accessory use in all non-residential districts

Mesa Unattended Container Muni Code sec. 8-3-7 Unattended containers, 8-3-12 Exempt from permit req.

Glendale Private Recycling Container

Currently not allowed due to bad experience*

Scottsdale Private Recycling Container

Permit W/landlord signature, $ 85 application fee

Gilbert Private Recycling Container

Permit W/landlord signature, $ 5 permit fee, renewed every year with new signature, site-plan, pictures

Tempe Recycling Container Permit W/landlord signature, $ 223 application fee

*City of Glendale is planning to work on a Zoning Update and new standards for

donation boxes in late 2011

THE NEEDS OF YOUR CITY: Based on our conversations with the city staff, we understand that the primary concerns

about donation boxes are locations and maintenance.

Locations: Commercial and to a lesser extent industrially zoned properties are the most

suitable ones for hosting a donation box. Residential zones (except large apartment

complexes or gated communities with well-designed recycling facilities) are generally

speaking not suitable for this purpose. We also do not place boxes into public right-of

way or anywhere else where we would require an encroachment permit.

Maintenance and care: We share the city’s opinion that properly servicing and

maintaining the donation boxes is of utmost importance. Our current practice is that

ever box is visited at least once a week. The collection driver empties the contents of

the box, checks the immediate surroundings for any items left behind by the public and

checks the condition of the box as well. Any small “tags” are usually taken care on the

spot; larger maintenance needs are taken care of in our central facility.

OPTIONS Based on our experience, the concerns about box locations can be addressed very

effectively through development standards that would apply to all locations in the city.

The following is an example of development standards from some of the SF Bay Area

cities (namely Richmond and San Jose) that could provide a basis for a safely operated

donation box program:

A donation box:

a. Shall be established in conjunction with an existing use or community service facility

b. Shall be no larger than 500 square feet and occupy no more than five (5) parking

spaces not including space that will be periodically needed for removal of materials or

exchange of containers (I personally think it’s too big, 20-50 sq.Ft should be sufficient)

c. Shall not obstruct pedestrian or vehicular circulation;

d. Shall accept only glass, metals, plastic containers, papers or reusable items.

e. Shall use no power-driven processing equipment

f. Shall use containers that are constructed and maintained with durable waterproof and

rust-proof material, secured from unauthorized entry or removal of material, and shall

be of a capacity sufficient to accommodate materials collected and collection schedule;

g. The site shall be maintained free of litter and any other undesirable materials

h. Shall not exceed noise levels of 60 dBA as measured at the property line of

residentially zoned or occupied property, otherwise shall not exceed 70 dBA;

l. Containers shall be clearly marked to identify the type of materials which may be

deposited; the facility shall be clearly marked to identify the name and telephone

number of the facility operator and display a notice stating that no material shall be left

outside the containers;

j. Occupation of parking spaces by the donation box may not reduce available parking

spaces below the minimum number required for the primary host use;

k. Shall not obstruct fire lanes, fire exits and other safety features, required signage or

required landscaping.

If the development standards are clearly established, it allows the possibility for a

simple operating permit/license for a collection program operator covering the whole

city without the need for the staff to spend time to visit and inspect every location.

Should there be repeated and intentional violations of these operating standards,

particularly in the area of placing the boxes at inappropriate locations, the city would

have the option to revoke the license of the operator for the whole city.

The city can also choose to process each location individually, but we would recommend

against it since that would require more staff time and would make the whole process a

lot more expensive. A few cities have established a permit process to consider each

separate location that also comes with certain permit fees. While we think these fees

are appropriate for the amount of work the staff needs to do to process these

applications, we are not convinced that the whole permit process needs to be that

extensive.

The responsibility for the donation box should be on the operator of the collection

program, and if the city has the option to revoke their right to operate, they (we) will

have every incentive to stick to the rules.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the information described above and the years of experiences in operating an

extensive clothing collection program we would like to make the following

recommendations for the city of Surprise:

Every entity that wishes to place donation boxes in the city should be

required to register and show proof that they are eligible to collect

donations

The city should create a set of development standards for placement and

maintenance of donation boxes that each registered operator must adhere

to.

In addition to the registration, the operator of the donation box program

should provide the city with an updated and accurate list of existing

donation boxes within the city serviced by this entity. (see the attached

Permission form)

The donation program operator should be responsible for any and all

abatement costs if the donation boxes are found to be in violation of the

rules set by the city.

These requirements should not create significant demand on staff time or use of the

city’s resources but could still ensure a level of control over who is placing boxes and

where. If the city would receive any complaint from the public or the code enforcement

would notice any possible violations, it would be easy to reach the responsible party.

According to the EPA, an average American discards 78lbs of textiles each year. For

Surprise this means a pile of 7 100 000 Lbs to be taken care of! Part of these are soiled

textiles or rags beyond any kind of usefulness but most of it still represents a valuable

resource that can and should be diverted from the waste stream. Collecting used

clothing and shoes through unmanned donation boxes placed on various private

properties is an established and low-cost (cost-free for the city) way to immediately

decrease the volume of garbage going to the landfill. It is very convenient for the

general public to participate, as people deposit their unwanted items during a regular

shopping run or at their favorite gas station. Last but not the least it also allows non-

profit organizations like ours to receive public support for our programs and earn the

money needed for our activities.

We hope you will find our suggestions helpful, please do not hesitate to contact me with

any questions; looking forward to working with you on this project.

Thank you for your consideration.

ATTACHMENTS:

1. Permission to place a Clothing donation box currently used by Campus California

Author: Jan Sako

Campus California

(510) 302 7117

jan@cctg.org

Campus California

15501 San Pablo Ave #G323

Richmond, CA 94806

510 392 3839 main

510 302 7117 Jan

www.campus-california.org