The importance of wheelie bin cleaning

Daniel Coulon, director of the National Association of Wheeled Bin washers explains whose responsibility bin cleaning is and what we can all do to keep them clean.

For the last forty years, local councils and waste contractors have been issuing the public and businesses across the UK with wheelie bins and commercial waste containers. Ranging in size and colour, with different guidance as to what type of waste you can place into them, there are now over 40 million bins in operation around the country.

While they have proven to be a fantastic means of both collecting and disposing of domestic and commercial waste, they do collect spills and residues which emit offensive odours and spread germs and bacteria.

This has especially been the case in areas that have gone to the infamous alternate two-weekly bin emptying, which due to waste being in the bins for longer, can attract insects and vermin especially if they contain waste food.

Whose responsibility is it anyway?

So, does it fall to the customers, staff, or a family?

Well, the answer is quite straightforward, currently, it is the household or business producing the waste.

They don’t own the bins, and the council or waste collector is obliged to empty them, but it is usually down to the householder or business to maintain them. If it is not in your contract with your waste contractor to clean or regularly replace your bins, then they are not obliged to do it.

How is it done?

As a result, there has been a boom in small local firms and franchises, including our members, who for a modest fee, will take on this time-consuming and unpleasant task.

These companies use bespoke equipment mostly manufactured here in the UK with capabilities of washing commercial and residential bins.

They use approved biodegradable chemicals and recycle the wastewater before removing it off-site and disposing of it responsibly.

The UK has been at the forefront of professional bin cleaning for over 30 years now and is often used as a template by overseas bin cleaning companies in the USA, Australia and across Europe all following the UK model.

The first professional domestic wheelie bin cleaning service was established here back in the early nineties, which then developed a few years later with the first commercial bin cleaning services.

With the onset of the Covid virus and the pandemic then spreading across the UK, we saw a huge increase in demand for professional wheelie bin cleaning, especially from commercial companies and organisations including the NHS, the MOD, schools and local authorities, all sub-contracting wheelie bin cleaning services to wash their commercial bins onsite on a regular basis.

There are over 300 bin cleaning companies operating across the UK of which most are now members of our association. With millions of domestic household wheelie bins now being washed across the nation every day, we have now seen a huge increase in commercial bin cleaning from facilities management companies, including ISS, Skanska and Mitie.

To waste contractors such as Veolia and Biffa and local Councils including Dundee Council, Stafford Council, Manchester Council and Southend Council to name a few.

Net zero

The main manufacturers of bin cleaning equipment are also based here in the UK and are now shipping these machines across the world. In keeping with trying to reach their net-zero policies, two of these manufacturers who have now become approved members of our association, Morclean and Green Cleen (UK) Ltd have designed and developed bespoke static bin cleaning equipment to run off three-phase electric instead of the conventional diesel and petrol engines commonly used with this sort of equipment so they can wash their own bin stock onsite.

Not only does this reduce pollution but allows these machines to be installed inside factories, hospitals, airports, and similar facilities.

They have been built with integrated multi-stage water recycling systems reducing the amount of water required in the bin cleaning process whilst only using 100 per cent bio-degradable bespoke chemicals which eliminate 99 per cent of all known germs and bacteria without damaging the environment.

It has recently come to our attention that NHS Trusts around the country are now making bin cleaning compulsory when tendering out their waste collection contracts.

Local authorities

Unfortunately, local authorities do not currently have the budgets to consider offering bin cleaning services to residents but are starting to offer this sort of service to residents of care homes and hospitals via a local bin cleaning service and we believe this is set to expand over the next few years.

The NAWBW is still the only recognised bin cleaning association in the world which is why we are used by companies and authorities both here in the UK and overseas for advice on the correct legislation and guidance for the bin cleaning industry and access to our members across the UK.

The association aims to continue supporting innovative companies developing the equipment used for bin cleaning, and our members who use the equipment as part
of their cleaning services, whilst educating and advising businesses, organisations, and authorities about the benefits of bin hygiene.