A mum of two fed up with litter blighting Hitchin has launched her own project to create colourful bins for people to place their rubbish.

Rachel Campbell of Wymondley Road has been working hard on trying to cut down waste discarded in and around the town centre and beauty spots.

The ‘binstallations’ are being sponsored by businesses and feature individual designs in bright colours – including pink with pictures of ice creams which are to be placed outside Fabios Gelato on Hermitage Road soon.

Rachel said: “Litter is depressing, bad for the environment, encourages rats to breed and costs a fortune to clear – money which could be spent elsewhere on doing real good. Our aim is to encourage everyone to use the bins by being a bit unconventional and creating something out of the ordinary.

“Too many anti-litter messages are stuffy and authoritative but I’m determined to do things differently. So we’ve ‘up-cycled’ some old, used black bin shells and with the help of businesses, designers and artists given them a new lease of life.”