Wheely bin stabiliser

[Brian Gaff]

Can you not simply use a simple brake on the wheels? I'd not want to put things that could be trip hazards on a public footway, you are most likely to get sued by somebody. The usual reason for bins walking about is the bin collectors not having the brains to put them back from whence they came. I needed to mark my bins tactilely, and asked the council, initially they were not happy at me doing anything but the calmed down when I pointed at the Equalities act as at present they are only different in colour which is not much good to a blind person. I ended up drilling holes in a flange to a code. This also means I know when its somebody elses bin not mine!

Brian

[Tim+]

I thought it was obvious but clearly it wasn't, the problem only occurs when our bins are out on the street, not when they're on our own property. This means that any sort of tethering than involves bin men having to fiddle with things is a non-starter.

In addition, even near full bins get blown over sometimes if the wind picks up in the night. I'm not too worried about empty bins blowing over as we live in a cul-de-sac and it doesn't pose a serious problem.

Tim

[Bob Eager]

[Bob Eager]

We are on a main-ish road and have the same problem. One local had thweir recycling bin blow over and the stuff went all down the road. They were fined by the council for littering.

I make sure there is no identifiable recycling.

[Martin Brown]

The only generic fix I can think of is to add a fixed weight to the base of the bin opposite to the wheels sufficient to lower its centre of gravity. Snag is that this unexpected extra weight could pose a hazard to the operatives handling the "empty" bin that is unexpectedly heavy.

I have to say my full bin never blows over and it is incredibly windy in North Yorkshire. The weight of ash in the bottom sees to that.

The empty one sometimes disappears down the street and has been known to get 300m away - likewise the blue recycling box which got even further.

[Dan S. MacAbre]

I'm amazed (or perhaps not) that whoever designed these things never thought of this problem. They have too narrow a base, and aren't heavy enough to hold themselves down. We use the car as a windbreak, and it seems to work, especially since we asked for a bigger bin, and there is also a slight incline that allows the bin to sort of lean into the wind. So, we're lucky - ours does not get blown over. Sadly, there are lots of others that do, and some mornings, the place is a right mess. Our volunteer litter-pickers must surely be in a position to mention this to someone; but, deep-down, I expect no-one with the power to do anything about it really cares. If they did, they'd have done something about it years ago.

[Theo]

A small water tank with a valve on a timer, timed to release the water at, say, 6am on bin day?

Theo

[T i m]

<snip>

We put one of the smaller / empty recycling boxes in the bigger wheely green recycling bin to stop it getting blown away (again) and it got emptied into the green waste truck. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[invalid]

They are for the blind to know which bin is which. They aren't easy to find if you don't know they are there.

The leaflet that came with the bins explained it.

[invalid]

It does when they hit your car.

[Tim+]

Why would it? We all park off the road in our street.

Tim

[charles]

Im poark in my driveway, but a bin could still be blown onto my car.

[Max Demian]

Was that in a form that the blind can read?

[invalid]

With a fence and gate around it?

[Tim+]

I?m sorry to hear that, but that?s not *my* problem or my circumstances. It doesn?t happen in my street.

Tim

[Tim+]

Don?t need to. It would take a hurricane to blow it back up from the street to hit my car and if it was that bad, I?d have a lot more things to worry about.

Worry about it if you like, I?m not going to because it?s vanishingly unlikely to happen in my street.

Tim

[Rob Morley]

I was thinking along those lines except - just stick a few gallons of water in the bottom: it will be automatically released when the bin is tipped. :-) Or tether a bung to the wall, so dragging the bin pulls the plug and it's empty by the time it gets to the truck.