WINDSOR, ONT. -- Windsor will look into the possibility of creating textile donation bins with Diabetes Canada.

The idea came up during discussions about regulating existing donation bins around the city.

Back on Aug. 4, councillor Rino Bortolin asked administration to return with additional information to deal with issues on such things as unwanted items being dumped at bin sites.

“This has been an ongoing issue for the city,” said Bortolin.

The matter was made worse at the beginning of the pandemic as some residents were at home and started spring cleaning projects.

Acting on complaints city staff sent orders to property owners where the bins were situated, and if the bins were on city property municipal workers were sent to handle the mess.

Staff also tried to notify the owner of the bins, but sometimes the bins didn’t have contact information like a phone number.

Administration found some other municipalities license the bins and the charges range from no cost to as much as $500 annually.

Council agreed with a motion from Bortolin requesting administration to return to council with a fee structure.

However, they also agreed to ask council to look into a proposal from Diabetes Canada to provide textile bins which the charity would collect.

The Manger of Government and Strategic Partnership from the organization which supports Diabetes Canada explained to council the Textile Diversion Pilot Project could help benefit 11 million Canadians with the disease.

Simon Langer says, “the collaborative effort would give the opportunity to divert Windsor’s 7.8 million kilograms of textiles which end up in the landfill each year.”

Staff received the go ahead from council to conduct a full review of the proposal and Windsor’s Chief Administrating Officer, Onorio Colucci expects a full review by early 2021.