EP1087060A1

EP1087060A1 - System for positioning refuse bins

Info

Publication number: EP1087060A1
Application number: EP00203332A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Franciscus Antonius Maria Pex
Original assignee: Pan-Trade International BV
Current assignee: Pan-Trade International BV
Priority date: 1999-09-24
Filing date: 2000-09-25
Publication date: 2001-03-28
Also published as: NL1013138C2

Abstract

A system is proposed in which refuse bins are put at a fixed location on the street in order to be emptied. This fixed location does not comprise a large area in which the refuse bins can be positioned in any mixed arrangement, but rather an individual location for each refuse bin. This is achieved by applying lines to the street, within which the house number of the designated user of the bin is arranged. All this may also be carried out using a sign or the like.

Description

The present invention relates to a road, street or the like provided with a marking for indicating the location where refuse bins are to be positioned.
There are currently two systems for emptying moveable bins. In a first system, the refuse bin in question is positioned in front of each house, office or the like, to be referred to below by the term user, and is emptied by the sanitation services and put back at the same location.
According to the second system, each street or part of each street has a central collection location to which all the bins are moved by the users. At this central collection location, the containers are emptied by the sanitation services, and are then put back at the same location. The users then have to return the bins to their house or the like.
Particularly in town centres, where the accessibility of refuse bins causes a problem to sanitation services, the latter system has many advantages. Moreover, this system is less labour-intensive for the staff of the sanitation services than the system which involves driving the refuse-collection truck a short distance, then stopping it, followed by loading the refuse-collection truck.
In such a system, a sign or lines are arranged on the street, and all the bins have to be placed within these lines.
In practice, however, it has been found that this often leads to disorder. Consequently, disciplined positioning within the space in question is lost and containers are put down all over the place for emptying. This creates a considerable inconvenience which is made even worse if bins which have not yet been put in place are not emptied. Users do not know where they should put their refuse, and this may cause a further inconvenience.
U.S. patent 4894654 discloses a system for controlling access to parking spaces. In the introduction to this patent, providing the wall of buildings with indicators for designating parking spaces for cars is described as the prior art.
DE 4018520 A1 describes a registration/processing system for rubbish bins in which each bin is provided with an individual designation.
The object of the present invention is to further improve the system described above, in such a manner that the discipline of correctly positioning the bin at defined locations is improved without high costs.
In a road, street or the like described above, this object is achieved by the fact that the said marking comprises information about the user and/or the refuse bin in question. Individualized marking of this nature may comprise any marking which is known in the prior art. For example, it is possible to use a sign. It is also possible to apply lines on the street and to arrange information about the address of the user or the number of the refuse bin in question within these lines. If address information is used, it is desirable, according to an advantageous embodiment, to employ the house number or part of the house number of the user for this information. Nowadays, this house number is often already present on refuse bins. Moreover, the bins can be emptied more effectively and consequently there is less obstruction to traffic for the other road users.
Since an individual position is now designated for each refuse bin within the location from which the bins are collected, the users will become more disciplined, leading to less inconvenience to the surrounding area and for the sanitation services.
It should be understood that the present invention can be used not only for positioning bins in groups in order to be emptied, but also for individual positions. As a result of a space with the house number inside it being drawn on the street, for example, it is possible for the user to position his refuse bin at a clearly indicated location. As a result, it is possible, for example in town centres or other areas where space is at a premium, to designate a position between cars, which is readily accessible to sanitation services but which means that the user only has to move the rolling bin over a shorter distance compared to a collection area. Naturally, the invention can also be used for offices and businesses.
The invention also relates to a method for applying a marking to a road, street or the like, which marking comprises an indicator of where refuse bins should be placed, in which method said marking is applied for each of the refuse bins which are to be positioned at a location. A marking of this nature can be applied by providing lines, by painting or sticking and applying the house number of the user in question.
The refuse bins described above may comprise any bins which are known in the prior art. They may be bins which are used separately for each household and in this case may be designed for either residual refuse or green waste, but may also be bins which are used for a number of households together.
The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment which is illustrated in the drawing, in which:
Fig. 1 shows the system according to the present invention without any refuse bins having been put in place; and
Fig. 2 shows the system shown in Fig. 1 but with refuse bins of this nature having been put in place.
In Fig. 1, 1 denotes a road on which there are a number of houses 2. The house numbers are indicated by 1, 3, 5, etc. On this road, the domestic refuse is presented at a common location which is denoted by 3. The domestic refuse is in rolling bins, each household having at least one of these bins. As can be seen from Fig. 1, at location 3 there are lines 5 within which numbers 4 have been painted. The bays formed in this way approximately correspond to the dimensions of the rolling bins.
Fig. 2 shows the situation which arises when the rolling bins have been positioned at the corresponding location. Each user has a fixed location at which he puts down his refuse bin, resulting in an orderly arrangement, and if a refuse bin is not in the desired position, it is immediately clear which user has positioned his refuse bin incorrectly, so that it is possible to correct this.
It will be understood that it is possible to provide a separate compartment for each house, with the house number arranged therein. It is also possible not to use a separate bin for each household, but rather a common bin for a number of households, which is then collected at a designated location together with other bins. It is also possible for the bins to be arranged next to one another in a single row. This allows them to be picked up automatically or semi-automatically by the refuse-collection truck.
These and further alterations will be immediately obvious to the person skilled in the art on reading the above description and lie within the scope of the present application.

Claims

Road (1), street or the like provided with a marking for indicating the location to place refuse bins (6), characterized in that the said marking comprises information (4) about the user and/or the refuse bin (6) in question.
Road, street or the like according to Claim 1, in which the said marking comprises a sign.
Road, street or the like according to one of the preceding claims, in which the said marking comprises information which is painted on the said road, street or the like.
Road, street or the like according to one of the preceding claims, in which the said information comprises a number.
Road, street or the like according to one of the preceding claims, in which the said information comprises information about the address of the user.
Road, street or the like according to one of the preceding claims, in which the said information comprises the house number of the user.
Road, street or the like according to one of the preceding claims, in combination with Claim 3, in which the said marking surrounds the periphery of the said refuse bin.
Method for applying a marking to a road, street or the like, which marking comprises an indicator of where refuse bins should be placed, characterized in that the said marking is applied for each of the refuse bins which are to be positioned at a location.
Method according to Claim 8, in which the said marking is produced by applying lines to the said road, street or the like.
Method according to Claim 8 or 9, in which the said marking comprises the application of a house number.