CCTV exposes shocking truth about 'missing' wheelie bin: 'Must happen often'

Residents are shocked to learn one reason wheelie bins can go missing after watching CCTV footage showing a garbage truck collecting rubbish.

Carly Bass
·Senior News Reporter
Updated ·3-min read
Left: Two wheelie bins, one with green lid and one with yellow lid. Right: CCTV footage showing garbage trucking collecting rubbish from wheelie bin.
Sometimes a wheelie bin can accidentally fall into the garbage truck, as one Sydney woman witnessed on her CCTV (right). Source: Getty/Facebook

If you've ever had a wheelie bin go missing, you might be quick to blame your neighbours. But it could be that the garbage truck accidentally swallowed it instead.

It's proven a seemingly common problem many residents face, with CCTV often exposing the truth. Just ask the Sydney resident who had hers disappear this week.

The Sutherland Shire woman shared her CCTV footage online which shows the truck during its weekly waste collection. As the mechanical arm lifts her recycling bin to empty it, the whole thing falls into the truck.

Yahoo News Australia previously spoke to a Western Australian man who admitted this exact scenario happened to him, and he too only discovered the truth after watching his home security footage. Watching the footage others claimed,"it's happened to me too".

"If you’re ever missing your yellow lid bin, don’t blame your neighbours," the Sydney woman shared on social media this week.

Garbage trucking collecting rubbish from recycling bin which accidentally falls into truck.
As the mechanical arm lifts the resident's recycling bin to empty it (left), the whole thing falls into the truck (right). Source: Facebook

The amusing footage baffled many who "didn't know it was a thing". "Wow I wonder how many go missing like that," one person said. "I found this way too funny," said another watching the video.

"I watched this happen to my neighbour's bin one day. I couldn't stop laughing as I sent her a message," a third said. "It must happen often enough, they had a replacement within 24 hrs and the neighbour hadn't done anything, so the driver must have logged it."

Yahoo News Australia contacted the Sutherland Shire Council to see if it's a common occurrence, however, failed to hear back. Other councils across the country have spoken of the issue previously.

The City of Fremantle’s Waste Manager Vitor Martins told Yahoo News "these things can and do happen" for various reasons — but when it does occur, "a swift replacement is guaranteed".

"Driver error, bin too slim or slippery for the waste truck's automated grasp, a rogue wind gust or all of the above," are all possible causes, he explained.

Pile of dumped wheelie bins at the Bulla Organics Facility in Victoria.
Pile of dumped wheelie bins at the Bulla Organics Facility in Victoria. Source: Waking up in Geelong/Marcus Wong

Meanwhile, an image shared online by photographer Marcus Wong previously shows a mountain of wheelie bins that have been collected from across the Victoria, before landing at the Bulla Organics Facility in Victoria — which processes 85,000 tonnes of green organics, lawn clippings, garden waste and food scraps annually.

"Apparently having a bin fall inside the rubbish truck on collection day is a common occurrence," he wrote. "They get screened out of the incoming waste stream, then separated out into plastic to be recycled and the wheels that are returned for reuse."

Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? Get our new newsletter showcasing the week’s best stories.

Latest stories