LIMERICK men Bob O’Connell and Myles O’Shaughnessy have patented a rubbish idea for a compartmentalised wheelie bin designed to manage waste and recyclables and reduce the clutter and other problems created by multiple wheelie bins.
The idea was originally conceived by Myles who invited Bob, a long time friend, to assist the project and together they set up Mi-bin Ltd to bring the concept to market.
A native of Limerick, Bob is a qualified fitter by trade and has also worked in sales management and marketing. Bob, however, is probably best known for his work in the city as a music promoter. He once managed Limerick band The Groove who supported David Bowie at Slane in 1987, ran the city’s legendary Termight Klub and brought top acts such as Manic Street Preachers and many others to town.
When the recession hit and the backside fell out of the entertainment game Bob turned his talents to work fulltime with Mi-bin — the multifunctional intelligent bin. Bob explained that the bin, which has a European patent, aids recycling in areas where space is at a premium such as inner-city terraced housing estates.
Hailed as ‘a wheelie bin for the 21st century’, the design has been developed for manufacture with the Sligo Institute of Technology Innovation Department, with manufacturers in the UK, Poland and Sweden already expressing an interest.
“Mi-bin is designed to replace two or more wheelie bins; it’s a one-stop bin,” said Bob.
“We wanted to address the problems caused by multiple wheelie bins which are blighting picturesque towns and villages and clogging up our streets. It is designed to be ergonomically well-balanced and pleasing to the eye with each compartment optimised for different fractions,” he told the Limerick Post.
With the rise of recycling in recent years, many householders are now left with multiple wheelie bins — one for household rubbish, another for recyclables and a third for garden waste and sometimes even more. According to Mr O’Connell, these bins are not only creating a blot on our landscape but are also obstructive to pedestrians in inner cities.
The most worrying issue however, according to the innovative Limerick man, is with the fortnightly collection of waste. A recent report, he claims, has shown that potentially-lethal bacteria multiply at a rate of up to 600 per cent in the second week and can cause serious illness.
“Disease-causing bacteria found in these bins is at dangerous levels and can be very serious for people’s health, especially young children and elderly people with weakened immune systems. Fortnightly collections were introduced for purely economic reasons with no other benefits attached. It’s time to put a stop to this flawed practise before more serious consequences are the result,” he concluded.
