'Obi-wan Binobi' and 'Binbo Baggins' among new names for West Midlands bin trucks

The final selection of names for the 12 trucks were revealed this week.

On Wednesday, the winners and their families were invited to a special event to see the newly named lorries up close and even have a go at loading them.

Jack, 11, and his mum, Nicola were delighted to have won with their name Bostin Recycler.

Nicola told GB News: "It’s been really great to be part of this scheme for Sandwell.

"Bostin is a real Black Country name, so we come up with that straight away.

"We’re Black Country born and bred, and recycling is really important, so it’s fantastic to give this to the younger generation and see the name on one of the recycling lorries on our street."

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She said: "I was thinking of it on Star Wars and I know that was a famous character."

The winning names Frank Binner and Cat Wheelie pay tribute to two famous faces who grew up in the area.

Cabinet member for Highways and Environment at Sandwell council, Councillor Keith Allcock, said the competition to name the trucks has started a conversation in the community.

He told GB News: “It’s very important we keep recycling rates going up, we know it’s good for the environment and it’s also good for Sandwell Council in terms of our finances.

“General disposal costs are going up higher and higher and recycling is a way of keeping that cost down.

“So, it’s very important to get this engagement, and hopefully we’ve had over 200 conversations going on in households and we’ve started that wider conversation.”

Statistics published by Defra in January this year show England’s recycling rate fell by 0.8 percentage points to 43.3 per cent in 2022/23.

For Senior Contract Manager at Serco, Tony Marston, that makes the point about reducing waste even more important.

He said: “It’s a shame that we’ve got so much waste in the industry and in this country and we need to make sure that we dispose of it properly and less goes to landfill and less goes to incineration.

“The more we can recycle the better.”

The full winning names include:

• Binbo Baggins
• Binderella
• Bostin Recycler
• Captain Recycle
• Cat Wheelie
• Frank Binner
• Lord of the Bins
• Obi-wan Binobi
• Ollie Bollie Bin Lorry
• Ow Ya Bin?
• Recyclosaurus Rex
• Wheelie Wonka