WHEELIE BIN

noun (Lifestyle and Leisure) A large refuse bin on wheels; a Eurobin (see Euro-). Etymology: Formed by compounding. History and Usage: The wheelie bin first appeared in the UK in about 1986, but both the object and the name seem to have been used in Australia for some years before that. The bins are designed to cut refuse collection costs (an important consideration in view of the privatization of local government services in the eighties); since they are on wheels, members of the public can move them to the front of their properties on the appropriate day for refuse collection in their area, thus saving dustmen thousands of trips to the side or back of properties and removing the unsightliness of black plastic sacks left out for collection. However, a wheelie bin is usually quite large--up to five feet tall--and this has meant that the whole idea has come in for criticism on two counts: that the elderly and infirm cannot manage them, and that they encourage people to throw away material which could otherwise be recycled. To all the freedom fighters who chucked their enthusiastic weight into my battle against the wheelie-bins;...my warmest thanks. The Times 29 Dec. 1989, p. 16