Bin collections are so rubbish we’ve set up our own waste firm!
Couple launch weekly pick-up as councils cut back services
IT has led to overflowing bins, a baffling array of recycling containers littering the kerb and a deluge of angry complaints from families across the country.
But an enterprising young couple are capitalising on the chaos caused by the abolition of weekly bin collections – by creating their own private refuse service.
Bare Bins, launched by Rebecca and Jamie Hill last week, collects extra rubbish that councils are unable to pick up.
They decided to buy a refuse lorry after spotting a rat scuttling around their own bins, which often overflowed with waste between fortnightly collections.
The couple, from West Calder, West Lothian, say they have found demand for their service among families who find it impossible to keep their household waste down to one full bin per fortnight.
Mrs Hill, a 31-year-old mother of one, said: ‘I finally reached boiling point when I spotted a rat running out from behind my bin one evening. After searching, we found there wasn’t anyone providing a service to households who needed additional bin collections.
‘We carried out market research and spoke with lots of households who told us it is impossible to keep their waste within the limit of a small wheelie bin, especially when it is only collected once every two weeks.’
Last year, a Scottish Daily Mail investigation found that councils were giving householders colourcoded calendars with an array of symbols indicating up to eight different types of refuse collections.
Failure to comply with the com- plex instructions can result in rubbish being left uncollected.
The Bare Bins service costs between £14.25 for a single pick-up and £289.17 for an annual subscription.
Mr Hill has left his job as a HGV driver to work for the business, which will initially cover Edinburgh and the Lothians.
The 35-year-old said: ‘The bins go to a transfer station to turn some of the waste into energy.
‘We try to avoid sending it straight to landfill to try to reduce what goes there.’
The transfer centre sorts the refuse into recyclables and other waste that can either be incinerated or dumped. It costs the firm around £127 for every ton of waste it takes to the facility.
The couple, who already have 35 subscribers, say the rubbish will be collected on the same days that the council collects bins for landfill to make it easy for families.
The couple spent £12,000 on the 7.5-ton truck, while £16,000 has gone on setting up their website and obtaining the required licences to operate.
Former bank manager Mrs Hill said: ‘Collections have gone down but council tax contributions have not, yet we still have the same amount of waste we always had.
‘We appreciate councils are stretched and have reduced budgets, which usually sees impacts on local services. That’s why we have spotted this as an opportunity to provide a much-needed service.’
Mrs Hill will not be carrying out any of the physical work but will be in charge of the administrative side of the firm.
Customers can order one-off, monthly, six-monthly or yearly collections.
A spokesman for the City of Edinburgh Council said: ‘We manage waste and recycling collections for over 240,000 households.
‘The council rolled out an improved household recycling service in 2015 [and] this has delivered further increases in recycling and a reduction in the amount of waste being sent to landfill.’
See www.barebins.co.uk for further details.
‘I spotted a rat behind my bin’