Is it a Cocktail, is it a Toilet, nah, it's a Wheelie Bin!

A pair of orphaned otter cubs used a brown wheelie bin as camouflage after being chased by a couple of dogs in Thurso, Scotland. This started Woody and the team thinking about all the unusual ways in which people, or in this case animals, use wheelie bins. So we made a list and here is a selection of our favourites.

1, Wheelie Bin Cocktails

Although not strictly a practical wheelie bin, The Talented Mr Fox’s cocktail bar in London decided to serve cocktails in mini-wheelie bins in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. For added realism, the drink is even served with a little bag of ‘bin juice’. These aren’t just any old rubbish, they’re wheelie bin cocktails.

2, Police Battering Ram

Probably one of the more extreme uses of the humble wheelie bin was in May 2011. After receiving a call about a man wielding a machete in a south London street, officers rushed to the scene to confront the man. After initially attempting to restrain the crazed man, one brave officer positioned behind a wheelie bin used the bin as a battering ram to defend himself against the armed assailant. After analysing the picture Woody assured us that the wheelie bin in question was a 240 litre green wheelie bin and through his union connections Woody was able to establish that the bin was unharmed.

3, Public Toilets

In 2010, Swiss designer Stephan Bischof invented the ‘Pee-lie Bin’, a wheelie bin that could double up as a public toilet and provide a solution to the distasteful, and illegal, act of public urination. The bin was adapted to include a funnel on one side that allows liquid to flow into the base of the bin where it is then converted into bio-fertiliser. The question is; would you allow someone to have a ‘Jimmy Riddle’ in your wheelie bin? Woody certainly wouldn’t.

4, Wheelie Bin Ice Baths

It has long been known that ice baths, or Cold Water Immersion, can help top athletes recover quicker from their exertions and wheelie bins are an affordable, if not rudimentary means of achieving this. Both Olympic gold medallist Jessica Ennis and tennis curmudgeon Andy Murray have been pictured using wheelie bins to aid their recovery. Woody also mentioned that if Jessica Ennis wanted to fill him up and step inside then he’ll be more than happy to oblige.

5, Wacky Races

Thoona is a town in Victoria, Australia. Since 2006 they have been holding annual wheelie bin races. Admittedly the bins have been modified to include an extra pair of wheels that you won’t have on your one at home, but they’re still wheelie bins and they’re still being raced. Thoona isn’t the only place where people race wheelies. In Hermeskeil, western Germany, the Wheelie Bin World Cup is an annual event. However, these are true wheelie bin racers who lie on top of the bin and race it down hill, with little or no control over the direction in which it steers. We asked Woody if he would ever let anyone ride him but he was still dreaming of Jessica Ennis taking a dip inside him.

www.getwheeliebins.co.uk