Fire-proof bin idea shelved - because they don't exist
8:57am Thursday 9th February 2012 in News
PLANS to introduce fireproof bins in Bolton have been shelved — as the technology to make them blaze retardant does not yet exist.
More than £600,000 of taxpayers’ cash was spent tackling bin fires in Bolton last year.
And some of the bin blazes led to families having to be rescued from their homes.
A group including Cllr Andy Morgan, fire chief Ian Bailey and Malcolm Cox, from Bolton’s Environmental Services department have been looking into ways to reduce the number of bin fires across the borough.
It was initially hoped bins made from either metal or a fire-proof plastic could be a possible solution.
But research has revealed the fire-retardant material that had been planned for use is too brittle to stand up to the rigours of being used as a wheelie bin.
Metal bins have been deemed unfeasible due to the current high level of metal thefts for scrap.
Cllr Morgan said: “I’m gobsmacked that in this day and age there isn’t a manufacturer who can make a fire-proof bin, or that we can’t save lives by using metal bins for fear of someone stealing them for scrap. We’re still looking into other possibilities, but it is very disappointing.”
An idea to use plastic bins with metal sleeves inside was found to be too expensive, as the sleeves were not available to be bought on their own.
Mr Bailey said: “What we are determined to do now is to take a more localised approach, meaning a solution which will work in one area may not in another, and those options might not be fireproof bins.”
Other solutions now being considered include gating off alleyways to provide secure storage areas for bins, or using larger, commercial bins, which would also be locked away in a safe place.
In 2008 Hameeda Begum, aged 71, and her four-year- old granddaughter Alana Mian, died following a wheelie bin blaze.
A bin had been pushed up against the house in Little Home Walk, Great Lever.
Firefighter Steve Morris was also seriously injured in the blaze.
