The rewording accomplishes what the original ordinance sought - it prevents for-profit companies from collecting unwanted clothing while shielding non-profits. An ordinance that would prohibit donation bins in Lafayette Parish is back before the City-Parish Council Tuesday. The measure was originally before the council as an introductory ordinance on Jan. 18, but the ordinance's sponsor, District 6 Councilman Sam Doré, pulled it off the agenda.
The original ordinance stipulated that such bins - specifically for donating unwanted clothing - could not be used by for-profit companies. Non-profit agencies such as Salvation Army and Goodwill were exempted from the ordinance, and news reports at the time identified as the genesis of the ordinance requests to Doré by Salvation Army and Goodwill - a pre-emptive strike, if you will, to prevent for-profit companies that collect unwanted clothing and then resell it overseas or recycle the clothing into rags and other products from setting up shop in Lafayette Parish and cutting into the donations collected by the non-profits. (No companies of this type are currently registered to do business in Lafayette Parish.) In fact, the original ordinance made specific reference to protecting the stream of clothing donations of the non-profits.
But Doré pulled the ordinance and had LCG's legal department write a new draft stripped of references to for-profit and non-profit entities. The new ordinance instead using the term "unattended donation collection bins" and stipulates that such bins must be on private or leased property where an employee of the entity is on duty - "attending to," in other words - seven days a week. The rewording accomplishes what the original ordinance sought - it prevents for-profit companies from collecting unwanted clothing while shielding non-profits.