Man takes pictures of bins in his town and rates them out of 25

‘Binfluencer’ Andy Bailey has taken pictures of almost 100 bins in his hometown of Congleton (Pictures: Andy Bailey/DML)

A dad-of-four has picked up a rather bizarre hobby – taking photos of bins and rating them.

‘Binfluencer’ Andy Bailey has taken pictures of almost 100 bins in his home town of Congleton, Cheshire, since the beginning of his crusade in December.

The 49-year-old then uploads the pictures to his Instagram account @bins_of_congleton – which already has over 1,000 followers – and gives each bin a rating out of 25.

He scores the bins out of five in five categories: personality, pristine, placement popularity and performance.

Andy said that while buildings and areas get developed all the time bins often ‘stay for decades’.

‘There’s one that we call the Taylor Swift bin because it was placed there in 1989,’ he continued.

‘Since I’ve started taking pictures of the bins, people have been telling me all kinds of stories. One person told me a particular bin I took a picture of had been the Saturday night meeting place for him and his mates when he was younger.

Andy gave this bin on Congleton Bypass a rating of 14 out of 25, with high marks for personality (Picture: Instagram.com/Andy Bailey)

They get marked on personality, pristine, placement popularity and performance, with this example scoring a very high 22 (Picture: Instagram.com/Andy Bailey)

‘These bins have played a big part in a lot of people’s lives but they are often overlooked or ignored.’

Andy’s decision to showcase all the bins in his local area started when he spotted a bin in Congleton Park in the shape of a bear.

Since then, he’s taken pictures of good bins – the best scoring a heady 23 – and bad bins – the lowest earning a meagre eight points.

No bins have yet picked up the coveted 25 points.

‘I score them in a Top Trumps style way. Personality – does the bin make you smile? Placement – is it the right bin for the right place?

Andy hopes to make a bin calendar

‘I haven’t given a score out of 25 yet – maybe I never will.’

So far Andy’s favourite local bins are in West Heath Shopping Precinct.

Andy, who works as a fundraiser for St. Luke’s Hospice, said: ‘They’re concrete bins with a copper trim and they look like they’ve come straight from 1960s Russia.

‘I think they’re something really special because they’re one of a kind.’

One of his least favourites is, what he describes as, ‘just a piece of metal on a stick’.

Andy at work taking photos of bins (Picture: BBC)

He said: ‘I’m not looking to change any of the bins because they’ve all got their own special style but I think maybe some of them could be improved.’

He added: ‘I’ve still got a lot more bins to photograph – there’s a canal that I know has a load of bins along it that I haven’t been to yet.

‘I’m hoping to take pictures of them in summer when I know they’ll look nice in the sunshine.

‘It’s just a bit of fun. But also I’m hoping it helps people appreciate what they have locally. Someone got in touch to say they’d lived here for 40 years and didn’t know there was a bin nearby.

One of his favourite bins at the West Heath Shopping Precinct, which bagged a score of 23/25 – the highest yet (Picture: Instagram.com/Andy Bailey)

Andy described this bin as ‘appalling’ and gave it a nine out of 25 (Picture: Instagram.com/Andy Bailey)

‘I’d love to do a calendar of all the bins and maybe even a walking tour at some point. Of course, my wife hates the whole thing but there’s plenty worse things I could be doing.’

Andy’s not the first person to shine a light on the humble bin. In 2022, Cardiff MADE gallery put on an exhibition by emerging photographer Tom Higgins calledLet Us Now Praise Famous Bins.

Tom, who took his own life the year before, saw the bins as a surrogate for the downtrodden, overlooked and undervalued, reported Nation Cymru.

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