A Brit bin man has warned that disposing of certain items in your bin could result in increased council tax bills. Ashley, who shares industry insights with his 153,000 TikTok followers, recently highlighted a big safety concern.
In his latest video, the self-proclaimed “bin-fluencer” urged householders to avoid binning disposable vapes, batteries, lighters or any electrical equipment in their household or wheelie bins due to serious safety risks, reports the Mirror.
“Don’t put vapes or batteries, or anything like that, lighters, in your bin because it can make an explosion,” warned Ashley, from south-east England. “You could kill somebody.”
He continued: “Make sure if you’re gonna vape, you’re gonna go back to a vape shop, take it back with you. Or if you’re going to B&Q, you can put them, the batteries and stuff in the bin there, or supermarkets also do it.
“Just don’t put them in, it’s not worth it. Stop doing it. Don’t put them in the bin.”
The 37-year-old collector addressed comments from viewers who believed paying £100 monthly for council tax entitled them to dispose of anything in their bins. He said: “That will go up – so much more money when you set a bin lorry on fire, or go to a recycling plant and that gets set on fire.”
The refuse collector also recounted his own brush with a dangerous incident.
Ashley recalled: “I’ve had this before. I’m not sure if it was a battery or a vape or something. And then the back of the lorry started smoking.
“You hear a big explosion and then it starts smoking. And then all I had to do is put a fire out and then get followed back to our tip by one of our supervisors, who then told us to tip it out in a separate area in the tip and then they extinguished it.”
Nevertheless, he warned that this outcome isn’t guaranteed, and occasionally “the whole bin lorry goes up”. Ashley urged residents: “Do not put them in the bin for any reason, please. Because it’s gonna put your council tax up, you know, if a lorry goes up in flames.
“Guess who’s paying for it? Council tax.”