‘making a visible difference’

Westminster City Council praise Amberol bins for design and price

Westminster City Council praise Amberol bins for design and price

Westminster City Council is situated in the heart of London and its boundary includes many well-known sites of national interest such as Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament. As such, Westminster is popular with tourists and has around 1.3 million visitors each day. Measuring only 4 square miles, the council boundary includes around 121,000 households with a wide cultural, social and ethnic demographic.

With so many visitors to the area, combined with the density of population, Westminster City Council faces a significant challenge in keeping its streets and parks free from litter. The council has been using Amberol bins since 1995, which is a tribute to the quality and value for money that Amberol products offer, as the council has a competitive procurement policy to ensure the best deal for residents.

The Amberol products used include their standard litter bin as well as the Westminster hooded bin and Olympic dual bin. The bins are used around the borough for the collection of general litter and items such as cigarette butts, as well as recyclable materials. All Amberol bins are made from recyclable polyethylene and have fire retardant inner liners. Their standard bins have a slam lock mechanism to prevent litter escaping and to reduce the possibility of deliberate littering.

“We have been using Amberol products since I joined the council in 2001,” comments Phil Robson, the council’s Supplier Relationship Manager (Waste and Recycling). “We have been happy to use the company for such a significant period of time because their range of bins is extensive. The products we use are well designed and fully meet our needs – and the pricing is reasonable too, ensuring value for money.”

Westminster, like all local authorities, has strict targets for recycling as part of their commitment to reducing the carbon footprint. The ‘On the Go’ recycling initiative has been implemented in Westminster as part of the strategy to fulfil this commitment.

The initiative has extended recycling beyond the home and has seen recycling bins placed in litter hotspots in public areas, with the Amberol bins playing a significant role in the success of the initiative. In fact, the Olympic dual bin, which has a combined waste and recycling capacity of 180 litres, was designed to facilitate their need for a combined recycling and general waste collection. The bin also includes two stubber plates and ash collectors to help on-street smokers to dispose of cigarette ends.

“Amberol developed a bin to support our recycling ‘On the Go’ initiative which enabled our visitors and residents to recycle products not just in the home, but also on the streets and in the city parks,” explains Phil. “Diversion from incineration of collected street litter recyclables is over 40% in most areas of the borough, but the biggest success has been the sections for stubbing and collecting the cigarette butts. The bin has brought a noticeable improvement to street cleanliness standards in the areas where they have been installed.”

The green and black bins are split into two sections: green for recyclable materials such as plastic bottles, newspapers, glass and cans, with the black section designed for items for incineration. “This has enabled us to substantially increase the amount of rubbish we were able to recycle,” adds Phil. In fact, Westminster was able to recycle in the region of an impressive 2,400 tonnes in 2010 from litter recycling bins alone.

Three words that Westminster City Council use to describe Amberol’s products:

Fit for purpose!

“I am happy to recommend Amberol products to other organisations. The company has served Westminster City Council well; they have high quality products that work, and at competitive prices,” concludes Phil.