Red Box donation bins popping up in Winfield recently have annoyed some local residents and caught the eye of city officials, but the boxes may or may not be staying, says an official with the company that placed them here.
The boxes are used to collect old clothing and shoes which are resold or recycled for a profit. There are at least five or six in Winfield.
"We haven’t made up our minds as to whether we’ll stay in this area," John Givan, a local representative for Tulsa-based American Recyclers, said Tuesday. "We’ll definitely be making a decision in the next 30 to 60 days."
The company is reconsidering its recent move into the Kansas market because the city of Wichita has ordered the boxes removed due to zoning concerns. Givan said American Recyclers is researching to see if there is a way to appeal the decision.
Otherwise, American Recyclers will have to continue working to remove about 70 red box donation bins from parking lots throughout south central Kansas’ largest city. That would represent about half the donation bins the company has placed in this area in cities including Winfield and Hutchinson.
A loss of so many bins in high traffic areas means the company would have to consider whether it is still feasible to collect items and empty bins on a Kansas route. The business model has been a success for the company in Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Houston, Givan said.
City manager Warren Porter said there is no movement afoot to oust American Recyclers’ red bins from Winfield. This city doesn’t have an ordinance like the one in Wichita that bans clothes from being accepted at curbside recycling bins.
Porter said the city has been fairly lenient with curbside boxes that have been used to collect everything from aluminum cans to canned goods, toys and, now, clothing.
A few of the red boxes ? which have popped up in the parking lots of local businesses in the last month or so ? have been seen filled to overflowing. Porter directed NewsCow to a red box bin that had bags of clothing setting outside it and on top of it.
"That we have a concern with," he said. "If you are taking drop-offs, the items dropped off need to be placed in the bin."
The city plans to contact the company about the overflow issue.
Givan hasn’t spoken with Porter about the city’s concerns but said the company checks the bins three times a week. American Recyclers gets permission from business owners to place the boxes, Givan said, and if a business calls about an overflowing bin, arrangements are made to make an extra pick up.
City officials have heard concerns from a few residents concerned about American Recyclers’ motives. The for-profit company sells the clothes that are in good shape and recycles the cloth and other materials from clothes that are too worn.
But, Porter said, American Recyclers isn’t the first company to make money recycling materials. If people have qualms about how the company does business or thinks the red donation boxes are misleading, there’s an easy solution, he said.
"Just don’t donate items to them," Porter said. "Find another group you’re comfortable donating to."
Givan pointed out that his company partners with Wichita-based Child Start, a private, non-profit agency that provides educational services for childcare providers and joins parents with quality providers.
Teresa Rupp, executive director for Child Start, said her organization was approached by American Recyclers about a partnership within the last year. Child Start officials thought the recycling company’s plan for gathering clothes and shoes sounded like another option for keeping those items out of the landfill.
The red bins also are a way to raise money for Rupp’s organization. Child Start gets $20 per month for each collection box that bears the organization’s logo.
"It’s a chunk of money, and it’s flexible money," she said. "A lot of our state and federal grant money is earmarked for very specific purposes. This gives us money we could use to spend on a program that might address a particular need as it arises."
Rupp is familiar with Cowley County and said her organization has held training classes at health department offices in Winfield and Ark City in the past few months.
She has been surprised by the level of criticism the red bins have received but said she checked out American Recyclers well before an agreement was in place. Rupp said she learned clothes recycling was a competitive industry and most organizations – for-profit or otherwise – sort out the clothes good enough to be sold and recycle the ones which are too worn.
She said American Recyclers has done everything they’ve promised so far and she hopes they keep doing business in Kansas.
Rupp acknowledged some local charities and other clothes recycling groups have been upset by the emergence of the red bins.
"Some of that hasn’t surprised me, because it does create more competition," she said. "But for American Recyclers to be excoriated like they have been, I didn’t expect anything like that."
