Litter group installs upside-down basketball hoops

Litter picking volunteers frustrated at a lack of bins in parts of their city have paid for and installed their own.

Members of the Peterborough Litter Wombles group have put up six bins made from upside-down basketball hoops on lamp-posts in the city, including three new installations in the Parnwell area last week.

Costing about £30 each, group founder Harry Machin said the bins had "such a big impact for such a small amount of money".

Peterborough City Council said it had regular meetings with the group and was considering putting bins in places with an evidenced need.

Peterborough Litter Wombles is funded by its members and receives some sponsorship.

Machin said their solution was far more cost-effective than traditional litter bins, which could each cost the council hundreds of pounds.

Machin said they had noticed a significant drop in litter since they started placing rubbish bags on other lamp-posts.

"We're trying to work with the council to get them to adopt and maintain those bins because at the moment we're doing it as volunteers and we can't do that forever," he said.

Peterborough Litter Wombles was formed five years ago and now has about 500 active volunteers.

Machin said the group had collected more than 15,000 bags of litter since then, but claimed that was "only the tip of the iceberg".

He said he was aware of funding challenges facing local authorities but added he would "love the council to do more".

Stephen Eastman, founder of another local group called the Independent Review Committee on Debris, praised the latest initiative and said other parts of Peterborough would benefit from them.

Chris Wiggin, a councillor with a responsibility for the environment, said any new bins would be "subject to costs and installation requirements".

"Alongside this we are focusing on developing educational activities, including organising regular litter picking activities at schools, to try and reduce the problem of litter occurring in the first place," the Liberal Democrat councillor added.

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