Sky high litter bins

‘RIDICULOUS’ six-feet litter bins in school areas have been rubbished by incredulous parents and care workers.

Council bins attached to lamp posts in Springvale are twice the height of many children who pass them. “It’s ridiculous. We want children to put rubbish in the bin but they can’t. Who on earth put it up, and why?” said mother and Springvale Primary School teaching assistant Gillian Haigh, of Tennyson Close, Penistone, South Yorkshire.

The bin, next to Little Freddies’ Nursery School on Sheffield Road, towers over her children Daniel, four, and Jessica, eight.

“We walk this way every day on the way to school. There are old ladies who walk along here and even they couldn't reach — it’s beyond a joke,” added Mrs Haigh.

Nursery manager Nicola Dutton agreed that the bin is too high. “As child care professionals we encourage children to put litter in the bin. It could be tidier around Penistone, and if the bin was lowered, it'd help,” she said.

Former Penistone East councillor John Wade drew attention to at least two six-feet bins on Sheffield Road — the other is situated opposite the new estate between Springvale and Oxspring.

Neighbourhood Pride manager Alan Wilson said: “The litter bins have to be fixed to the concrete lamp columns as there are no other posts in the vicinity we can use.

“The bins cannot be fixed any lower as the straps would interfere with the lamp inspection plate.” The alternatives are to install new posts or exchange the bins for floor-mounted ones, and the situation will be monitored, he said.