Litter and dog waste bins being replaced in West Oxfordshire

West Oxfordshire District Council’s (WODC) cabinet met earlier this month to discuss its litter bin replacement and renewal programme.

At the meeting, it was agreed that the council increase its annual capital budget by £13,000 over the next five years, to give an annual total of £25,000 for bin purchases and fitting.

It follows a recent evaluation carried out by the council, which found there were areas where multiple bins were in the same location, and were therefore rarely used.

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The assessment also found that ‘a significant number of bins had come to the end of their usable life’.

With that in mind, the council began replacing some of the worst bins, with 68 so far replaced in Witney, Carterton and Chipping Norton.

There are still over 100 that are in need of replacement.

Fifty bins are scheduled to be replaced over the coming months.

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Speaking at the cabinet meeting, WODC’s cabinet member for the environment, Norman MacRae said: “For some time, there has been little work carried out with regard to litter and dog waste bins.

“Money had been allocated in the budget but no action had been taken.

“Quite frankly I was becoming more than a little embarrassed with the state that many of our bins had got in.

West Oxfordshire district councillor Norman MacRae and one of the new bins in Witney. Picture: WODC

“As initial action, we have used available funds to embark on a programme of replacing what I can only describe as the tatty, old rusty bins.

“Our next steps are to set in place guidelines regarding the sighting of bins, both the combined litter bins and the dog waste bins.”

Mr MacRae said that the new bins would take both litter and dog waste as both types of waste are taken to be incinerated.

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A council report highlighted the importance of the positioning of bins in the district.

It read: “Bin positioning is important because litter bins need to be placed in prime locations such as along pedestrian pathways that are well used, commercial shopping areas and in places where littering and/or dog fouling is a problem.

“Litter bins near fast food restaurants, bus stops and train stations also help to catch some of the ‘on the go food’ users.

“Much of the research carried out shows that people often blame their littering on a lack of bins.”

The council’s assessment of its bin portfolio found that it has approximately 700 litter and 500 dog waste bins, providing a total of 1,200 in the district.

WODC will work with town and parish councils to find out which bins are more used than others.