Thousands to get wheelie bins for the first time

5 hours ago

Sarah-May Buccieriin Holbeach

BBC A woman with blonde hair next to a blue and black hair with her thumbs up. — Teresa Andrews has given the new bins the thumbs up, describing them as "fantastic"

Wheelie bins have been delivered to a part of Lincolnshire where they have never been used before.

South Holland District Council has started the process of rolling out about 200,000 bins to households across the area, who previously had to separate their waste into bags and place them outside their homes.

Teresa Andrews, 74, said she thought the new bins were "fantastic", especially as animals often raided the bags.

"All the ducks, rats, dogs, cats, anything, when it's five, six o'clock in the morning, they're tearing the bags to pieces," she said.

A woman with brown hair tied up smiling in front of a house. — Lucinda Burnside says the old method of using plastic bin bags was a "bit grim"

The decision to introduce the bins was made in 2025 at a consultation, where it was almost a split vote on whether to make the change.

Lucinda Burnside, 39, from Holbeach, said she had been looking forward to getting her bin, adding: "No more bin bags, no more birds ripping apart, no more cats ripping it apart.

"They get full of maggots."

Households in the district will receive three large bins for general waste, mixed dry recycling and paper and card recycling.

They will also be given a smaller food waste bin and caddy.

A man in an orange high vis jacket is sorting out bins which are black and purple. He is pulling out one bin from a stack of others in front of a house. — John Exley, who has helped deliver the bins, says most people have been positive

John Exley, managing director of Key Environmental, which distributes the bins on behalf of the council, said "99%" of the households they had delivered to were "embracing the change".

"They quite often come out and grab their bins before we've finished delivering them," he added.

A man wearing a black shirt with black hair is smiling. He is in front of a house on a housing estate. — Local resident Aravind Kailas welcomes the change

Aravind Kailas, 30, described the new bins as "helpful".

"Before we used to just dump it in the front of the house, but now we've got a bin," he said.

"And it's free, so it's good."

Charlotte Marsh, 52, said she was waiting for hers to arrive and liked the "concept" of the new bins.

"I hate having the bags outside the house," she said.

"We have foxes, we have ducks, we have loads of cats and so they just go through them all and rip them," she added.

Marsh said her only concern was where she could store her new bins.

White bin bags full of rubbish are placed at roadside. There are grass verges and a road in the middle of a street, with cars and houses either side. — Residents previously had to put their rubbish in bin bags by the side of the road

A spokesperson for the council said the move away from bags to bins formed part of a "major transformation of waste and recycling services" across the area, adding the bins would provide residents with a "more secure, durable and practical way to manage their household waste".

The council said it had delivered to more than 13,000 properties already with a further 34,000 scheduled for delivery over the coming weeks.

Councillor Jim Astill, portfolio holder for corporate and environmental services, said: "This is the biggest change to waste and recycling services in South Holland for many years and will provide residents with a modern service that is fit for the future.

"The new arrangements will help us meet national recycling requirements, support residents to recycle more and reduce the amount of waste sent for incineration."

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