City officials think a new law is needed to prevent clothing donation bins from turning into public dumping grounds.
The new law is being proposed after complaints from the Brick House Restaurant and Cafe at 90 Pershing Drive, near Valley Bowl.
Rashad El-Sharnouby opened the restaurant in December 2008. He said a donation bin next to his property has become an informal city dump.
The problem has especially bad since June.
“They bring mattresses, old TVs, broken dressers, all kinds of garbage,” El-Sharnouby said. “It depresses the whole area. It’s an eyesore that is not good for the town, not good for the area and not good for the businesses.”
The dumping next to the Brick House happens all the time — often as El-Sharnouby watches.
“Every single day, all day and all night,” said El-Sharnouby, who would support an all-out ban on the collection bins. “You can’t police those bins every single hour,” he said.
The bin next to the Brick House is on private property — so the city workers can’t clean it up themselves.
However, that may change if the city’s creates a law governing the bins.
“There are many questions now over how actually owns these bins and who are the proceeds going to,” said Ken Hughes, president of the Board of Aldermen. “Issue number two is the area around these bins are becoming a mess. Material isn’t put inside the bins. They’re not emptied in a timely matter. People use them as garbage bins.”
The proposed law, which is currently being drafted, would require the bins to be registered and permitted from the city’s building department.
“We’ll require a permit, and then then we’ll have owner contact information — a number where somebody can be reached,” Hughes said.
“We’ll also have the name of the charitable organization or whoever is benefiting form these bins, along with a physical address of the company who owns the bins. We’ll put some accountability in there,” Hughes said.
A maximum fee of $50 to register the bins is also being considered.
If bin owners don’t clean up their act after a certain amount of time, the law will give Derby the option to take over the bins and bill the owner for the clean up.
A public hearing on the local law is tentatively scheduled for next month in front of the Board of Aldermen.
The law, currently in draft form, is available below:
DRAFT Derby Clothing Bin Law –
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