New drug needle bins installed to tackle littering

Peterborough Litter Wombles collected more than 100 needles during a litter pick earlier this year

Five new needle bins have been installed across a city to help crack down on discarded drug paraphernalia.

Peterborough City Council said it worked with organisations including Cambridgeshire Police, the drugs support group Aspire and local campaigners to tackle the littering and was confident that the new bins would help keep communities safe.

There were now 15 needle bins across the city, which have had more than 2,600 needles deposited in them since 2019.

Harry Machin from Peterborough Litter Wombles, who has picked up discarded syringes across the city, welcomed the news and said the project "has made a difference" in some of the areas.

There were currently 15 bins across Peterborough

The five bins have been installed in:

• Boulevard cycle path near Taverners roundabout

• Bourges Boulevard near English Street

• Gladstone Park

• Lincoln Road subway

• Embankment area, following a successful Safer Communities Fund application.

The bins were marked with stickers stating 'sharps disposal' and were emptied by the council's waste contractor, Aragon Direct Services, around every two months.

Councillor Zameer Ali, cabinet member for communities, poverty and public health, said: "Discarded needles are not a problem unique to Peterborough, but they continue to be a common sight in some areas of the city.

"We have installed these new bins as part of our work to develop strong and sustainable communities and help ensure public safety.

"Our needle bins continue to be well-used, preventing dangerous drug paraphernalia from ending up on the streets, potentially coming into contact with children or vulnerable residents."

Mr Machin said: "They [council] are getting the problem sort of under control… something is making a difference.

"I have found needles in these locations in the past, so I think the council health team is on it and are trying to deal with the issue. But I also think they need to put more actual litter bins around the city.

"We have been working on identifying locations that are desperately in need of a bin…it is taking a while to get the message across, but hopefully we will see something in due course."