'Ironic' ash/trash receptacle spotted in LA.

While on a recent bin spotting trip to California, I chanced upon this knowing little ash/trash hybrid in Los Angeles' Grand Central station. Paradoxically, the bin was manufactured to include both a 'no-smoking' symbol and an ashtray, and was installed in the terminal's designated outdoor smoking area!!!

Clearly the product of a sarcastic mind, closer inspection revealed the dry-witted bin was designed by United Receptacle as part of their Howard Aspen 201 series. Further features of this sardonic 12 gallon disposal point included a four-way waste opening (one side absurdly inaccessible) and a tactile desert stone finish.

Whoever said Americans don't understand irony has clearly never seen a Howard bin!!!

You can take the bin out of London...

Stef was a London-based bin spotter who relocated to Singapore last year, excited by the promise of exotic, Oriental bin spotting opportunities in Southeast Asia.

You can imagine Stef's surprise when he discovered Singaporean waste disposal was run by Veolia Environmental Services – the very same company that handled commercial and municipal waste in his former East London neighbourhood!!!

"It was quite a relief in a way," Stef commented, "there's this awful stereotype about bin tourism in the Far East... sleazy Westerners travelling to less-regulated countries, looking for easy access to cheap, exotic bins. It was actually quite reassuring to see normal bins of a respectable age, managed by a reputable company. I made a number of friends in the Singaporean bin spotting scene, all of whom had honourable intentions."

Stef sent in the shot above of himself and a local bin spotter beside two familiar, Veolia-managed containers. In reference to the white markings, Stef added: "In Singapore, it's customary for owners to paint their addresses on bins to prevent them being misplaced by refuse collectors." Again, this practice is not unknown in London.

¡Aye carumba!

It's something we've all fantasised about – what would happen if the safety locking casters on a commercial waste container were to simultaneously fail, allowing a renegade bin to run amok through city streets, Grand Theft Auto style?

This cheeky simulation was made by GTA IV PC Vids and boasts the caption "ULTRAVIOLENCE." Enjoy!!!

Black Knight caught off-guard.

This peculiar sighting was sent in by Alicia from Stockholm (Swedes, as a rule, love bin spotting).

While visiting London on a bin spotting pilgrimage, Alicia made a beeline for the private, unmarked high-capacity waste container known to bin spotters worldwide as 'The Black Knight.'

That, in itself, would be nothing out of the ordinary – we regularly receive contributions from tourists in black, unbranded clothing pictured beside this famous plain-black bin...

But this time, let's just say Alicia caught The Black Knight asleep at his post!!!

Stick out your can, here comes the garbage man...

A great bin spotting video from trash fan Robin Miller, who put together this chirpy montage in homage to the hard-working Solid Waste Department of Bradenton, Florida.

Not only is it the kind of video you can watch scores of times without it getting repetitive, it also features a swinging jazz ode to the humble garbage collector.

A wilder, upbeat version of the classic bin spotter anthem, Stick Out Your Can (For The Garbage Man) can be found here. As was typical of rock'n'roll nonsense songs of the period, the risqué lyrics could just as easily be about anal sex as they could be about bins. When in Rome.

Clinical waste bin seen in Birmingham.

This gruesome bin spot was sent in by Miles from Birmingham. The sighting depicts a clinical waste container in traditional hazard yellow. Bins of this colour often house substances that pose a threat to human health, so it's good to see a lockable drop-down front for secure storage and safer removal of contents.

Unusually, this bin was spotted not outside a hospital or round the back of a doctors' surgery but in a busy city centre!!!

Although this example suffers from an accumulation of street grime, it still carries all the important markings which typify the breed. The most striking of these is the internationally recognised Biohazard symbol, developed in 1966 and later appropriated by the rap-metal band of the same name and people with HIV.

Old timer sighted in Netherlands.

The Dutch bin spotting community breathed a sigh of relief last night when 'Big Red,' formerly the world's biggest bin, put in a timely appearance at an Amsterdam exhibition hall.

Known to Dutch bin spotters as 'Grote Rode,' the much-loved red waste container has been in active service since 1962, once holding a Guinness World Record on account of its mammoth dimensions. The famed receptacle had been missing in action since 2003, when it was last seen serving in a South Korean shipyard. Many feared 'Big Red' had been put out to pasture following the introduction of larger models by its manufacturer, Icova.

This photograph was sent to us by Paul, an exhibition freight coordinator working in Holland. "I'm not a bin spotter, but I noticed quite a commotion when this skip returned to home soil. I know you like bins for some reason so I took a photo." Glad you did, Paul. Here's hoping your close encounter with one of the greatest bins in history might pique your interest in bin spotting.