What a difference a month makes!

The Shepshed BRB (Big Red Bin) overflowing on 16.06.2020

The COVID-19 Lockdown may have stopped people doing a lot of things… but there is little evidence that it has stopped people drinking canned beers, Coca-Cola and lemonade.

The donation point in Glenmore Park, Shepshed, near Loughborough, is a Big Red Bin. It has been emptied seven times since Lockdown began. Sometimes we do not get there in time to prevent it overflowing, particularly if someone deposits a lot of cans in one visit or (unfortunately) if people leave clothes and shoes in it because the bins either side of it are full.

We asked parish council clerk Brenda Snape to put a notice on the bin asking people to call us if they see that the bin is full.

When we emptied the bin on 16.06.2020, there were bags full of cans donated by Gill Moore, who a few days earlier had given us several one-tonne builders’ bags in which we transport the cans to our storage facility, a trailer of an articulated lorry.

Please click on the photo caption below to see how full that trailer is now.

The next video shows how the trailer looked on May 2.

To watch the earlier video, please click here

To be honest, stacking bags of cans four high is not a job for the claustrophobic!

Remember, though, that we need about one million cans to provide a helipad at Leicester Royal Infirmary. We estimate that there might be 200,000 cans in the trailer at the time of writing, so we still need lots more cans.

And after LRI, we aim to provide a helipad to serve Air Ambulance patients at Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham.

Last edited: 12:30 on Wednesday, 17.06.2020