Couple offer bin pick-ups for £90

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated: 05:37 EST, 4 May 2007

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Hundreds of householders fed up with fortnightly rubbish collections have been offered a return to weekly pick-ups for £90 a year.

An enterprising couple in North Yorkshire realised the potential for private collections after they and their neighbours became tired of the stench of rubbish hanging around for 14 days.

Chris and Kate Whyatt were also angry that any rubbish bags left outside the designated wheelie bins were not collected.

So from the end of May, the couple will be offering residents in two areas of Yorkshire the chance to get their rubbish taken away in the weeks that the normal bin lorries are not operating.

Householders will be charged £90 a year - equivalent to £1.73 a week - for the service.

Those who pay an optional extra charge can also have their bins cleaned.

The couple, who have three children under ten, have bought two secondhand dustbin lorries, with an option to buy more if necessary.

And they say they could expand the service nationwide if there is a demand.

Their Bin and Gone business was launched this week with minimal publicity. But they have already signed up around 200 customers and are receiving 5,000 hits on their website daily.

The huge interest has even caused their company website, www.emptymybin.com, to crash. Mr Whyatt, 35, of Brompton-on-Swale, near Richmond, said the company may also begin collections in the Midlands. They can go anywhere in the UK once 700 customers have been found in any one council area.

The Daily Mail's Great Bin Revolt campaign has highlighted widespread anger at the move to fortnightly collections.

The family firm is believed to be the first private sector company offering to fill the gap. Mr Whyatt, who already runs a waste recycling company, said: 'We are convinced there's a market for our service. We had not anticipated this level of national interest.

'When our lorries with our logo on the side are regularly out on collections, that's when we will get the most interest.'

He said there were three main 'target' groups - large families or homes with too much rubbish for fortnightly collections, those who 'don't like having rubbish hanging around for 14 days' and the environmentally-conscious households concerned about the 'carbon footprint' left by driving regularly to the dump.

He added: 'We came up with the concept after seeing how much rubbish was left behind when the council workmen emptied our bin and realising it would be another 14 days until they came again.' The company will begin operations in less than a month in Richmondshire and Hambleton and are hoping to buy a third vehicle to carry out collections in the Coventry area.

Mr Whyatt said anyone in the UK could 'register an interest' without making a financial commitment, allowing the company to expand into areas where there is sufficient demand. 'We are a commercial venture offering a service,' he added. 'There has been a slight grumble by some people that they do not feel they should be paying for this but life is like that these days. Our service is responding to a need, a bit like private education.'

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In Richmondshire, Band D householders pay £1,360 in council tax and in Hambleton they are charged £1,210. The Whyatts' company is required by law to have a waste carrier's licence from the Environment Agency. Luckily, it already has one due to its work in the recycling business.

When collections start in less than four weeks' time, Bin and Gone will employ three drivers and six collectors. The rubbish will end up at the same landfill site as the household waste collected on alternate weeks by council binmen.

Like the council, the private operator must pay a fee for disposal of the waste. A spokesman for Richmondshire District Council said: 'There really is no need to be paying any extra. Our alternate weekly collections are hugely successful and generally well received, with residents embracing the change.'