Town ditches seagull-proof rubbish bags after they cause new litter problem by blowing away

The seagull-proof bags
The seagull-proof bags

A seaside town's attempt to end its scavenging seagull problem with special peck-proof rubbish bags have been scrapped because they caused a new litter issue by blowing away.

A four-month trial of the seagull-proof rubbish sacks in Burnham-On-Sea, Somerset was axed because the new bags were themselves causing litter.

Residents were offered the new rubbish bags in an attempt to reduce the amount of litter strewn across streets by gulls tearing apart plastic sacks.

Burnham-On-Sea Town Council began a trial in partnership with Somerset Waste Partnership to give away a small number of the gull-proof sacks made of strong material.

But Cllr Nick Tolley told a meeting of the council’s Town Improvements Committee on Monday that the bags weren't not practical in a windy seaside town.

He said: "We do have a problem here in Burnham with gulls ripping rubbish bags apart. I suffer greatly from this issue every week.

"The gull bags do work – they are wonderful, but a key problem with them is that unless you are there at the moment they are emptied to fold the sack back up and take it back in, they create another kite festival.

"They fill up with wind very quickly. Mine kept blowing away.

"I can’t see they will be effective around our town unless people have something like rings bolted to their house for the refuse collectors to tie them on and prevent them flying away.

"They do stop the gulls getting in but if we supplied them to residents we would be in an ever-decreasing circle, facing financial dismay in replacing them every week.

"We haven’t had many requests for them so I don’t think we should go ahead with them any further."

Town councillors agreed to end the trial.