How well-dressed wheelie-bins can raise extra cash for Leicester City Council
Council bosses are looking to sell special covers to people who want to decorate or disguise their wheelie-bins.
The stick-on vinyl sheets – widely available on the market at a cost of about £15 – wrap around the black plastic bins.
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Leicester City Council hopes to generate cash by selling them to residents who want to brighten up their bins.
Assistant city mayor for neighbourhood services Councillor Sarah Russell said: "You can get these vinyls already but people are asking us for them.
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"I don't want to turn the council into a retail outlet, but if people want to buy them, they might as well get them from us.
"I don't think it will make a huge amount of money but every little bit helps.
"It's a sort of wheelie-bin camouflage.
"The bins are very functional and not everyone thinks they are very attractive.
"Some people don't think they are a very nice feature in their back gardens and want a way of making them less visible.
"You can get all different designs – from flowers to trees and bubbles. They can look really nice."
Coun Russell said the vinyl covers could also help prevent people's bins from being stolen or mixed up with their neighbours'.
The council will also look at selling stick-on numbers for people who want a simpler way of making their bins more easily identifiable.
Coun Russell said people had also asked for outdoor containers in which they could store their orange recycling bags on non-collection days.
She said: "There are really all sorts of bin accessories people want which we could provide."
Kim Stallard, 42, from Braunstone, said: "I've already seen a few bins around with patterns and animals on them and I think they look quite nice. I'm not sure I'd go to the bother of it myself though. It's a bin not a work of art."
Geoffrey Foster, 71, from Leicester's West End, said: "It's a nice idea because the bins are big, black, and ugly but these covers have been around a while so I'd have thought anyone who wanted one would have bought one by now.
"I can see the practical use of it though because it's not unknown for a wheelie-bin to go missing on collection day and that's very frustrating."
David Collins, 39, also from Leicester's West End said: "It's a waste of money. Completely. And I don't know why anyone would buy numbers when you can paint them on yourself."
11 Comments
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by redcat
Monday, January 28 2013, 9:52PM
“by cjt72Monday, January 28 2013, 4:00PM
"So it was unsafe for bin lorries to traverse the ungritted side streets, but it was safe for all other drivers to traverse the same streets. If either vehicle skids on the ice, then parked vehicles could be damaged. Why don't the council simply fit snow chains to their fleet of bin lorries, when the weather dictates?"
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They aren't the council's fleet of bin lorries, it has been contracted out for years now (you can see the company names on the sides of the lorries). And the cost in time and equipment of fitting snow chains or snow tyres (for one week a year) would be passed on to the council when the contracts are renewed. And therefore passed from the council onto us, via a rise in Council Tax. (Or if that is capped via a loss of other services paid for by council tax).
Do you REALLY want a rise in council tax just so you don't miss one week's bin collection per year?
And likewise, if the lorries HAD damaged parked vehicles as they drove past them then that would be paid for by the bin company's insurance, leading to higher premiums, leading to a rise in costs - passed on to the councils -leading to a rise in council tax. Why risk it just for one week's bin collections?
If other drivers feel they must go down ungritted side streets then that is their decision -and their vehicle and their insurance premiums they are risking.”
by Neil0123
Monday, January 28 2013, 7:47PM
“Do they do any with Peter's face on them?”
by Scottmason
Monday, January 28 2013, 7:14PM
“What a rubbish idea.”
by cjt72
Monday, January 28 2013, 4:00PM
“So it was unsafe for bin lorries to traverse the ungritted side streets, but it was safe for all other drivers to traverse the same streets. If either vehicle skids on the ice, then parked vehicles could be damaged. Why don't the council simply fit snow chains to their fleet of bin lorries, when the weather dictates?”
by truthtooth
Monday, January 28 2013, 3:47PM
“30 t lorries, going down side streets , roads covered in snow with the paths untreated and slippy means it was the right decision , imo .”
by LikeItaLot
Monday, January 28 2013, 1:34PM
“by Rodders65
Monday, January 28 2013, 9:06AM
."@ Ledecestre
No bins were emptied due elf and safety going mad again ....oh and the snowy weather of course."
.
So you would have done it then?”
by colarrey
Monday, January 28 2013, 12:16PM
“karinfall1955Monday,
"How long before complaints are made that someone's bin was missed because it was so well camouflaged against the hedge?"
And also what about the iminent "no win no fee" claim for injury from a bin they didn't see?”
by karinfall1955
Monday, January 28 2013, 11:24AM
“How long before complaints are made that someone's bin was missed because it was so well camouflaged against the hedge? ;o)”
by redcat
Monday, January 28 2013, 9:59AM
“Personally I think it was the right decision for the bins not to be emptied last week. Most city residential side streets were not gritted and are often narrowed by cars parked on both sides, therefore there would have been a high risk of those parked cars being damaged if the bin or orange bag lorries had started to slide on the ice. We get too little snow annually for it to be worth the cost -passed on to customers- of all bin lorries being fitted with snow tyres.
-Is it really that big a deal if one week's collection gets missed? (It's not like the rubbish will rot and smell when the temperatures are below freezing).”
by Rodders65
Monday, January 28 2013, 9:06AM
“@ Ledecestre
No bins were emptied due elf and safety going mad again ....oh and the snowy weather of course.”