A FORMER sales manager is celebrating a year of success after starting up a wheelie-bin cleaning business.

Mark Kelly used to work as a global sales boss for hairdressers.

But, looking for a better quality of life, he decided to give up the long hours and generous salary to freshen up fellow residents’ bins.

The 58-year-old, of Oakdene Close in Mile Oak, Portslade, said: “I was in the hairdressing business for about 30 years and just thought to myself, I am so tired all the time, I need a change.

“Then one evening when I was staying at my sister’s in Nottingham and someone knocked on the door.

“She said, ‘oh that’s my wheelie-bin cleaner man’.

“I thought how ridiculous but also how brilliant.”

Mark said his sister told him he should take the idea back down South.

He took up her advice, left his job, and set up Bright N Shine, Brighton and Hove’s first bin cleaning service, in March last year.

He said: “I gave up a massive salary and started knocking on doors.

“It’s really gone so well, I have had 15 new customers this week.

“I am kept busy every day.

“It’s bringing in enough to make a living.”

Mark, who already has hundreds of customers craving clean bins, is hoping to double his load.

He covers homes and businesses from Peacehaven to Angmering.

Residents in Worthing, according to him, have a better cleanliness attitude to their bins compared with their Brighton and Hove counterparts.

He said: “My first bin was terrible. Maggots, all at the bottom and I had to scoop them out.

“But I don’t mind, it’s good to get these bins cleaned.

“I use only 100 per cent biodegradable products and they are all disinfected, dried and deodorised.”

Mark waits until the bins are collected before he dives in for the deep clean.

He has his own van fixed with a dock for the dirty bin and a jet wash to blast the filth.

He said: “It can be challenging sometimes because I have to wait until the bins are emptied before I start the cleaning and sometimes it takes a while for them to be collected so there is a bit of chasing I have to do.”

The summer brought Mark more commercial customers as well as his normal resident requests and he is expecting a repeat this year.

He said: “It’s so hot in the summer and the bins are prone to get really nasty.

“There are also a lot of people and businesses contact me to clean because the smell can get so bad.”

For a standard size wheelie-bin, Mark charges £3 a month or £6 for a one-off clean.

The size up costs £4.50 a month or £8 for a one off.

To book a Bright N Shine bin cleaning service from Mark, contact enquiries@bnsbc.co.uk or 07543708015.