Local schools help name out-of-this-world solar bins in Porthcawl

Earlier this year, five cosmic visitors landed in Porthcawl to help keep the area clean and tidy and local schools have helped come up with some out-of-this-world names to give the solar powered bins.

In collaboration with Keep Wales Tidy, the solar-powered bins have been wrapped and are located across Porthcawl.

Before the summer holidays, five local primary schools spent some time coming up with the names and Mayor of Bridgend County Borough, Councillor Martyn Jones, had the tough job of choosing his favourites.  

• West Park Primary came up with the name ‘Ziggy’ for the bin located at Rest Bay.
• Afon y Felin Primary chose ‘Comet the Space Bin’ for the bin located on the Eastern Promenade.
• Ysgol y Ferch o’r Sgêr named the bin on the Esplanade ‘Y Bin Hudol’ which translates to ‘The Magic Bin’.
• Newton Primary came up with the name ‘Solar Squish’ for the bin located at West Drive.
• Corneli Primary chose ‘Solar Muncher’ for the bin located at Griffin Park.    

These high-tech bins are a bright and colourful way of encouraging visitors and residents alike to look after Porthcawl.

It’s wonderful to see local schools getting involved with projects like this, and I hope it helps to discourage people from littering while also educating children about how we deal with waste and recycling.

Choosing the winning names was particularly difficult as all of the entries were very clever and creative, but I think it is fair to say that the final choices are out of this world - well done to all concerned.

Councillor Martyn Jones, Mayor of Bridgend County Borough

As the bins are solar-powered, cleaner streets operatives will be alerted when they are nearly full, so they can be emptied regularly.

There are already enforcements in place to try and combat littering and if caught dropping litter in a public place you could be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice of £100 under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005.

Pam Bacon, Regional Manager Central West for Keep Wales Tidy said: “We are delighted that five new alien solar bins have moved into Porthcawl, this is a new, novel way to get everyone recycling the correct way.

“We have had a bit of fun on this trial and tried to come up with something a bit different that will hopefully capture everyone’s attention.

“We really hope they will inspire people of all ages to do the right thing.”

The initiative has been funded by the Welsh Government Rural Communities, Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.