Litter and rubbish bins are a practical and important part of keeping the world clean. We couldn’t live without them and one is probably sat no more than a few feet from you as you read this, but very few of us pay the humble rubbish bin any attention.

However, there are a few people who have found not only novel uses for some bins but also there are some weird and wacky bins out there.

Wheelie bin urinal

Perhaps the most bizzare bin in the world - this bin has an inbuilt urinal

Whoever thought of this must have been on the way home from the pub at the time. The idea is to prevent people from urinating in public but surely wouldn’t a toilet be a better solution?

Novelty Bins

There are bins representing almost every possible comic book and cartoon character out there. This is perhaps my favourite:

Feel the Force - a Novelty Star Wars Bin

The R2D2 bin is a great homage to the Star Wars film and a great way of helping to clean up the Empire.

Novel uses of bins

With a growing number of abandoned puppies being dumped on the German streets – the obvious solution – a puppy bin. But don’t worry, any abandoned puppy left in the puppy bin will be re-homed – lets just home they don’t find a litter of them in there!

The practical Bin

All these bins provide a fun approach to dealing with our litter. However, while novelty bins may brighten our day they are unlikely to provide a practical solution to preventing rubbish and litter. Rubbish bins are an important aspect to keeping the environment clean and choosing the right bin is important in preventing littering or other hygiene problems.

In providing litter bins you should always ensure the bins are :

Robust

Have a tight fitting lid

Be practical to use

Large enough to cope between being emptied

Plentiful

There has been a lot of political debate in the UK and other areas of Europe and North America about the future of home refuse collection. Driven by environmental policy and the need to reduce the ever increasing costs of disposing of household waste, many new laws and regulations are being introduced to promote recycling and reduce the amount of waste that ends in landfills.

As a consequence of all the political wrangling, the traditional dustbin is to become a thing of the past with multiple receptacles for different recycling with some home owners expected to need up to five different rubbish bins for different materials.

As a result, it is expected there will be an increase in the demand for rubbish receptacles – but selecting the right bins for councils and locaal authorities can be a difficult task, especially if there is an investment  on new receptacles. Making sure the right bin is fit for the right purpose, is vital as getting it wrong could be financially disastrous if the wrong bins are provided.

But the requirements for what bin is required can often have more to do with the location than the rules. There is little point in supplying an apartment block with wheelie bins for garden waste if there is no garden, and often if space is an issue where a different solution such as shared bins may have to be thought of.

Wheelie bins are commonly used by many local authorities for residential waste as they are often seen as a solution for all waste needs and they have many advantages over other types of exterior bins. They are tall, which prevents vermin and pests from entering the bin, and are secured with a decent fitting lid.

But the main advantage of the wheelie bin is how easy they are to move around by both the resident and the collection team. They are can also be manufactured in multiple colours which is crucial if multiple bins are provided for different materials for recycling.

However, the procedure to wheel out several bins for collection every week or fortnight may be unpopular with local residents. It may also be impractical for apartment blocks or for streets where there is little room on the pavement – and the bins themselves could even become a hazard.

Is dustbin about to make a comeback

The traditional method of refuse collectors entering a property to collect the dustbin may seem an outdated practice but some local authorities are turning back to this method for less frequent collections, such as garden waste. Often, in these sorts of situations, a lidded outdoor bin is often a better solution as they are easier to carry and less cumbersome.

Supplying the right type of bins is crucial for any educational establishment if they are to keep the school or college grounds clear.

School Bins

Littering is not a problem of the youth, or any other social group, it tends to occur because there is inadequate or shortage of bins. When hundreds of people are gathered anywhere, they will produce litter, so ensuring there is somewhere for them to put it is vital if you want to prevent people from discarding litter.

Not only are the number of bins and choosing the right location important, but putting some thought into what is going to be thrown into the bin will help ensure you get the right type and size of bin and in schools and colleges that often means thinking about the type of rubbish your students will be throwing away.

Typically, in most schools and colleges; crisp packets, cans of pop and other snack items make up most of the rubbish so sufficient litter bins in size and number is one way to ensure the students are not littering. But there are other things to think about to:

Free Standing Sack Holder Bin

Selecting the right location for the bins will help ensure the bins are used and not ignored. The canteen and any entrances in and out of the building should always have plenty of bins. Free standing sack holders are the easier solution for this as they are quick to empty and replace the sacks.

But there are other needs for student bins, that have to be thought about. For colleges, despite the policy of the school, smoking will certainly be going on somewhere, often outside entrances, so to prevent a build up of cigarette butts in doorways, its better to place a cigarette bin, or wall mounted ashtray.

Exterior Bin

Sanitary bins also need to be provided in female bathrooms, as they will also be needed in staff facilities and bins for paper towels will need to be in all bathroom areas.

Classroom bins tend to fill with just waste paper so regular waste baskets are good for here but in the corridors there will be more of a variety of items so having a few wall mounted bins along corridors is a good idea too.

In every business there is waste. From discarded paper to scrap metal, waste is part and parcel of all businesses and industry. However, waste management in some business sectors is more important than in others.

Catering is one such industry where more thought and consideration has to be placed on the disposal of rubbish than in other sectors. Preventing vermin and pests, as well as ensuring there is no risk of food poisoning from your business should be a top priority for anybody starting out in the catering industry.

And one of the most important aspects of this waste management is the use of the right bin. The right kitchen bin is crucial for any catering business and the criteria for a kitchen bin often differs to conventional bins. Kitchen bins have to store food products that will rot and smell whilst also preventing the attraction of pests and vermin.

A swingtop bin will also prevent you from having to handle the bin

The lid is perhaps the most important aspect of the kitchen bin. A good fitting lid that prevents smells and will ensure the local wildlife are not attracted to your kitchen. But also there are other aspects to the kitchen bin that needs to be considered.

A pedal bin should be really used in a kitchen as a lid that is opened manually can soon get dirty and will force you to wash you hands every time you use the bin. A kitchen pedal bin means that you can quickly dispose of peelings or other items without having to run to the sink which cumulatively will save a lot of time. A swing top bin will also prevent the need for touching the lid.

Pedal bins are a good idea for the kitchen

Kitchen bins get more use than other types of bin and ensuring they are a good size is important (and a bin is easier use if it’s waist high as you won’t risk missing it) but the size is also dependent on how often the bin is going to get emptied.

The exterior bin used for a catering business is also important to consider and although a good fitting lift to prevent smells is important aswell, most rubbish should be bagged up in there so a more important aspect to the exterior bin is to ensure that the local foxes, cats and rodents can’t gain access. Like the kitchen bin the exterior bin’s size is also dependent on how much waste you dispose of and how often the bin is emptied but in both cases it is always best to buy kitchen bins or exterior bins that is slightly larger than needed.

The care sector is an important but challenging industry. Ensuring vulnerable people are cared for requires a multitude of skills and abilities, but when mistakes are made criticisms can often be scathing.

Hygiene is one aspect where many sections of the care industry have come under criticism in recent years; the spread of hospital acquired infections being one reason, which is why those working in the care sector now consider hygiene to be amongst one of the highest priorities.

However, whilst a lot of emphasis is based on cleaning and ensuring floors and surfaces are clean, waste management is often overlooked as a secondary priority. But waste management is vital in any care sector surrounding, particularly in preventing the spread of infection.

Overflowing bins, the wrong type of receptacle for soiled garments or lack of regularity in the emptying of waste bins can add to the risk of infection or of disease spreading.

Hospitals,care homes and even nurseries need to ensure they have the correct bins and waste management procedures for dealing with things such as soiled garments, used bandages and even nappies. They all need to be stored in the correct receptacle to protect people in the care sector from risk of infection.

Sanitary bins are not the same as conventional bins. Bandages or hygiene products need to stored carefully before they are disposed of and while there are laws governing the disposal of such items to keep them from regular rubbish landfills, there is little legislation governing the storage of these items in the care sector itself.

However, sanitary bins, and even nappy bins are created to ensure that soiled items or products that could possibly contain pathogens are stored safely without risking the spread of disease. They are manufactured with good quality lids and are often pedal activated to reduce the risk of spreading germs through repeated contact with the bin itself.

A nappy bin is often overlooked but is important to prevent possible infection

They are also manufactured from bacteria resistant materials such as Polypropylene which offers limited surface area for germs to attach to.

The size of sanitary bin or nappy bin obviously depends on the amount of items disposed of and the regularity of the emptying of the bin but its always wise to err on the side of caution because of the bin gets full and just one sanitary item is disposed of improperly, serious repercussions could result.

Health and hygiene are perhaps the most important and feared words in the fast food business. Nothing will close a takeaway quicker than accusations of bad hygiene or lack of pest control. If the environmental health don’t close you down, the lack of custom surely will.

It is a constant battle in the catering business to keep on top of hygiene. Letting it slip can lead to disaster but often businesses suffer problems with hygiene through no fault of their own.

Customers who discard food near premises can often attract vermin and pests which then gets associated with the restaurant. This can often lead to problems with the authority and a bad reputation will start to drivie customers away. At the very least, discarded food litter will upset the local residents and neighbours causing trouble any business could do without.

And on other occasions, despite the best efforts of the proprietors, problems still occur, quite often unexpectedly.

However, often the culprit can be the humble rubbish bin used by restaurants, kitchens and fast food takeaways. Often the wrong bin is used and this can lead to the problems mentioned above, let me explain:

When discarding food from the kitchen its essential it goes in a bin with a good lid. Leaving food in rubbish bags out the back will just attract cats, foxes, rats and worse. Make sure all food waste is discarded in good quality exterior bins with strong lids to prevent vermin from opening them.

To prevent customers from discarding rubbish, make sure your premises has a good sized bin out the front. If there isn’t one from the council ask if you can provide one, explain how you wish to reduce litter and they will most probably agree. A good sized litter bin that is regularly emptied will discourage customers from throwing litter. At the very least it will demonstrate you have tried your best to ensure the environment is litter-free.

L:itter bins outside will help stop customers throwing litter down

Good quality kitchen bins are also a must as even small scraps of food lying about will attract mice or cockroaches, both of which will force closure of a restaurant until they are controlled. For more advice on health and hygiene speak to your local council.

The bin plays a vital role in the care sector and other service industries. It is a crucial part in ensuring hygiene and plays a part in the fight against hospital acquired infections.

Care sector bins have to function under far more demanding circumstances that conventional rubbish receptacles. From the type of waste to the vast quantities of waste that can accumulate in the care or service industry means that when it comes to sourcing bins for the service or care sector, a lot of thought needs to go into it.

Firstly, the type of material that is discarded will influence the type of receptacle required. Any service industry or care work that involves infants will need somewhere to dispose of soiled nappies. Smells and risk of access from children means that large nappy bins have to have a good fitting lid.

Sanitary bins

Other types of sanitary bins are required in the care sector too. Geriatric care and medical procedures require bins to dispose of this material. Any sanitary bin has to store items that have the potential to cause infection so the quality of the bin can’t be a compromise.

Fire retardant bins are also a consideration in many buildings in the care and service sector. Any public bin at a hospital has to be fire retardant as the risks of a fire could be catastrophic so most hospital bins are fire retardant.

Finally, you must plan carefully remember the to assess how much waste is going to be disposed of and of what type. It is also crucial to know how often the bin will be emptied as this will have a large impact on the size required. Also think of the people that will be using the bins. Children need to be prevented from accessing hazardous material while any bins that re to be accessed by the aged or infirm needs to be easy to use.

Sourcing and buying good quality bins for the service sector isn’t necessarily difficult. Choose a vendor with experience and that can supply a large range of bins to ensure you are always supplied with they type you need.