Dirty wheelie bins could be cleaned by new service

Chichester District Council is looking at introducing a mobile wash service for businesses and residents.

The first year would see the service focus on business waste customers only and then in year two rolled out to residents and primarily, but not exclusively, for their garden waste bins.

The cost of the service will include price plans based on one-off, regular, and deep cleans.

A new vehicle would be purchased by the council for £18,500, with bin wash equipment costing a further £22,500.

The £41,000 total spending from reserves is set to be agreed by cabinet members at a virtual meeting next week (Tuesday May 12).

Last year the council agreed to set up a new food waste recycling service for businesses and specialist purpose-built food waste bins were procured to seal in odours, prevent leaks and designed for easy cleaning.

Customers, particularly for larger contracts, expect a bin washing service as part of the offer.

The council currently has basic manual bin cleaning equipment at its Westhampnett depot, which is static and used for cleaning returned bin stock for domestic and business services when required.

In the future the new vehicle will be able to offer a mobile wash service with the capacity to clean all sizes of waste bins.

The bins can be cleaned internally with automatic cleaning heads and finished with a manual hand lance fitted to the side of the machine.

The wash bay is enclosed with stainless steel splash guards, and excess water is captured and fully retained within the vehicle tanks.

The unit will use filtered recirculated water significantly reducing the use of fresh water used in bin cleaning. All waste water will be safely disposed of at the Westhampnett depot using the recently installed foul water drainage system.

A deodoriser will be applied to the bin before being returned.

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