Schaumburg may ban donation boxes

Hoping to stop the increasing blight of overflowing and unauthorized donation boxes in local parking lots, Schaumburg officials next month will consider banning them altogether.

A proposed change to the village’s zoning code would specifically prohibit all donation boxes that don’t belong to the owner of the property where it sits or its primary tenant, Schaumburg Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald said.

So while the Salvation Army or Women In Need Growing Stronger (WINGS) could keep donation boxes on their own properties for after-hours donations, they couldn’t locate them anywhere else, she said.

The primary reason for the possible zoning code change is the proliferation of for-profit companies locating donation boxes in the village, often without the permission of the property owners, Fitzgerald said.

Many of these companies are using donated clothes in order to make rags which are then sold for profit, she added.

“It’s deceiving to the public because they often think they’re donating to a not-for-profit when they’re not,” Fitzgerald said.

In addition to protecting the public in this fashion, the village’s other concerns include the aesthetics of the donation boxes — which are often found overflowing — and complaints being heard from property owners about their unauthorized location.

Village staff surveyed several other communities and found that many are reviewing their regulations regarding donation boxes for the same reasons.

Among those that already decided to ban the boxes are Hoffman Estates, Mount Prospect, Algonquin, Crystal Lake, McHenry, Elgin, Geneva, Lombard, Villa Park and Warrenville.

If the proposed zoning code change is recommended by the zoning board of appeals and approved by the village board next month, the ban would take effect immediately.

But the donation boxes would likely be stickered first to allow their owners some amount of time to remove them on their own, Fitzgerald said.