By Stuart Fry
Brighton and Hove’s fancy new solar powered bins look so hi-tech that many people don’t realise they’re meant for litter, residents claim.
The city council installed the BigBelly bins, which crunch down waste, around the city over the summer, reducing the number of times bins need to be emptied.
But according to some, their introduction has actually seen an increase in litter.
Tracy Holland, who owns MadWaxCandles in the High Street, Rottingdean, where bins have just been installed, said she had witnessed people littering outside her shop.
She said: “We used to have a big bin opposite outside the old NatWest building but now we just have one small bin which is useless as everything just flies out of it and a space-age thing which doesn’t even look much like a bin.
“I think people will use bins if they’re available but the ones we’ve got are not very obvious or too small.”
Alan Pockney, owner of the Gift Shop in Longridge Avenue, Saltdean, also has a new BigBelly outside his shop and said: “Three bins were removed from this stretch and replaced by an all-singing, all-dancing solar-powered bin.
“People often sit and eat on the bench just outside my shop but they don’t use the solar-powered bin afterwards and just chuck their rubbish on the ground. So, every morning I am the road sweeper outside my shop.”
And Anthony Delow, who sits on Rottingdean Parish Council, said: “We were not consulted at all by Brighton Council about the solar-powered bin in the High Street and it was put in the wrong place, as buggies are now unable to pass.”
However, one Rottingdean resident, Paul Mnich, who kickstarted a discussion on online forum Streetlife about increasing litter in the neighbourhood thought the bins would work well once people got used to them.
He said: “I don’t think people have got used to the solar-powered bins yet. Personally I think they are a good idea as they condense waste and will hold more than the standard bins.”
The city council defended the bins, saying: “More rubbish can be held in a BigBelly bin than a standard receptacle, which necessitates fewer collections and therefore more time for our staff to perform duties including litter picking and street cleansing.
“The BigBelly bins are marked as litter bins and they have been used successfully in other areas of the city.
“There are more than 1,000 litter bins located throughout the city, which makes it impractical to consult on each one’s location. But we will conduct a site visit to Rottingdean and move the bin if it is causing an obstruction.”
Instead of moaning about something which is clearly a great idea, because it will decrease the amount of pollution and the expense (in the long term) to the council of having to empty bins so frequently, why don’t these NIMBYs who are getting so uppity about high tech bins, instead share pictures of the bins on Facebook, and inform locals about the bins so that more people start to use them? It really won’t take long before they catch on and it’s only the click of a button, or a nice conversation with people who come to your shop. Information spreads fast these days, what with that great invention called the internet and all! People are so backwards about good things happening. It’s a good thing you wallys!
Yes, it is a right old crop of vintage moans by this lot. They do not seem to grasp that this is but one way of helping such things as the melting of Greenland – see yesterday’s New York Times – would could have seas rising twenty feet: farewell Rottingdean!
Swapped spending money on wages for renting robots. Savings will not be as projected following the mistakes of the roll-out of communal recycling
If the emptying of street bins was better integrated with other recycling services then jobs preserved and environmental impact less than using these compactors.
They were in place at Brighton Station but vanished.
Two hands free look to be needed in order to put litter into ‘Big Belly’ and for shopping, baggage and baby-laden people this may be an issue.
As a walking-disabled person looking at the photo I see an access issue for myself. Similar designs sit in hospital/shop/public toilets and unless foot-pedal operated can be a struggle to open, hold open while binning something.
People in wheelchairs would find them less of an issue as less compromised on the balancing/strength front.
How funny. There are picture clues on the recepticles! There is more litter simply because more people than ever think it is acceptable to litter. Look at the state of the buses and trains. The attractive new seating infront of Brighton station quickly became a tip and giant stinky ashtray. Ignorant, selfish people leaving behind their crap will chose not to use a bin, regardless of what it looks like!