New bins introduced across Southport and Sefton at littering hotspots

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The Council’s Green Sefton Service has secured funding for 48 replacement bins to be installed at key littering hotspots across parks and coastal locations.

Green Sefton is responsible for managing more than 500 bins across 121 sites and is using its successful bid for funding to target locations with high footfall and those that have historically been affected by nuisance littering.

A total of £22,358 in UK Government funding has been awarded to the Council under the Resource Action Fund to help support its important work to improve the ‘binfrastructure’ (bin infrastructure) within litter-prone hotspots.

The Resource Action Fund is an £18 million fund, provided by Defra and managed by environmental charity WRAP, which supports resource efficiency projects in England in the key areas of food, plastics, textiles, recycling and litter. It does so through a variety of mechanisms including large and small-scale grants.

Open top 80-litre capacity bins across 48 spots, are being replaced with larger 120-litre capacity bins with a covered top. Twenty of the new bins will feature a bright yellow top so that they are easier for people to spot when using those spaces.

Cllr Ian Moncur, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said:

“Sefton has 22-miles of stunning coastline, more than 30 parks and around 180 open spaces. All these places have been more popular than ever throughout the pandemic, for both residents and visitors, as people have enjoyed spending more time outdoors.“Sadly, not everyone has helped to protect these spaces by taking their rubbish home or using the bins provided. At the coast this can threaten rare species and damage sand dunes, and in parks it is incredibly unsightly and undermines the hard work our Green Sefton officers undertake on a daily basis to keep these spaces clean and tidy.“Our aim here is to target key sites where we regularly see bins reach capacity. We’re also targeting areas with high levels of footfall where aimless littering often affects our communities who rely on these spaces.”

Locations that will benefit from the new bins are:

  • Ainsdale Village Park
  • Botanic Gardens, Southport
  • Bowersdale Park, Seaforth
  • Duke Street Park, Formby
  • South Park, Bootle
  • Amos Square Park, Litherland
  • Bedford Park, Southport
  • Crosby Coastal Park
  • Derby Park, Bootle
  • Hesketh Park, Southport
  • Seafront Gardens, Waterloo

Green Sefton officers will monitor the impact of the new bins and it is hoped that they will reduce littering levels in some of the Borough’s most-used outdoor spaces.

Larger capacity bins may also help to reduce the frequency that they need to be emptied, freeing up officer time to carry out essential maintenance across other popular visitor locations.

Claire Shrewsbury, Director of Insights and Innovation WRAP, said:

“We are pleased to be able to support Sefton Council to improve and expand its binfrastructure network with grant support through the Resource Action Fund. Resource efficiency projects such as this will help us achieve our goal of diverting and reducing waste, and better managing resources.”

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said:

“Nobody wants to see litter in their communities. It tarnishes town centres, harms our wildlife and wastes taxpayers’ money cleaning it up.“A key part of tackling this blight is to ensure that local areas have the right bins in the right places. That is why the Government is investing in the binfrastructure fund so we that we can have hundreds of new bins across the country, making our communities cleaner and safer.”

Cllr Moncur added:

“Sefton is a clean, green and beautiful Borough and the cleanliness of our outdoor spaces is very important to us. We want to reassure our residents that we are doing everything our resources allow to tackle littering through schemes like this, and we will continue to explore ways to reduce litter.” 

People are also reminded that littering is a criminal offence and can ultimately result in a fine for those that continue to flout the rules. Anyone witnessed dropping litter by a Civil Enforcement Officer can be issued an on the spot Fixed Penalty Notice of £75.