Council's bin creative

The bins are ideally placed for duck waste too...

Petersfield Town Council (PYC) believes it has “killed two birds with one stone” with an innovative scheme that should reduce litter on Petersfield Lake.

With the full backing of the Environment Agency, litter bins have been carefully placed to encourage visitors to stop leaving discarded lager cans and cigarette packets when visiting the town’s iconic lake.

But, these are no ordinary bins: designed by scientist Walter Clearup these bins float and have been strategically placed and anchored across the pond.

Ms Flo Tynbyns, speaking on behalf of PTC, enthused: “We are proud to be setting an example here. These ground-breaking waste receptacles will provide members of the public boating on the lake with somewhere to throw their rubbish.

“We’ve all seen them, thinking they are out of sight, chucking their rubbish overboard; well now there’s no excuse.”

But the usefulness of the bins doesn’t end there. Global warming saw the lake freeze over last year and in the winter the bins can again be used - this time as you would a normal bin … but on the ice.

Ms Tynbyns added: “Where you have a pond, you invariably get pond life, in this case hoodies and other benefit-claimant types.

“Last year the ice sheet was littered by these oiks who stroll out onto the ice, drink their lager and then leave the cans and bottles behind them. Now at least the sight of the bins might encourage them to dispose of their litter sensibly.”

Duane, 17, who was sat in the playground beside the lake drinking Diamond White when approached by a Petersfield Newswire reporter, said: “I don’t get it, when the ice melts, yeah, the rubbish sinks, yeah, so what’s the problem? Anyway what’s a litter bin?”