A local litter picker has noticed more and more bins disappearing from around Marlow – with the council also claiming to be in the dark about the bizarre trend. 

Guy Greenhous, a former solicitor who has independently litter-picked around Marlow for years, said his first instinct upon noticing a sudden decrease in the number of bins around the town over the last few weeks was to contact his local council.

After hitting a dead end with Marlow Town Council – who delegate responsibility for waste disposal to the unitary authority in Aylesbury – the 77-year-old appealed to Buckinghamshire Council for an explanation – and was not given a satisfactory answer.

A spokesperson for the council told the Free Press they were aware that bins had gone missing in the area and were investigating the issue as well as seeking to replace those that had disappeared.

One bin, which vanished from Higginson Park at the beginning of August, has since reappeared, this time with a smaller lid – something Guy thinks could be a council deterrent to residents filling them with domestic waste, though the governing body's claim of no responsibility throws this theory into doubt. 

Nonetheless, when he noticed that "the bin on West Street had gone missing five or six months ago", he assumed it was because "the council wanted to stop people filling it with household rubbish and knew there was another one nearby".

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But, sharing that litter build-up at the spots where the bins used to be had “increased significantly”, Guy said he was now aware of four that have disappeared in the last fortnight, from West Street, Higginson Park, Station Road and Chapel Street – "though there could be others too".

He added: "I can’t understand them being moved by anyone other than the council – these are great masses of concrete. If someone was looking for scrap metal, they’d just pull the casing out.”

Emma Hawkins, a founding member of the local litter-picking group Marlow Wombles, said she had also noticed a sudden lack of rubbish receptacles in the town this month, with further disappearances on Gossmore Road and near the level crossing on Spittal Street.

It comes just weeks after a handful of bins on Chesham High Street also vanished in what councillor Justine Fulford described as “mysterious” circumstances, but which locals thought could be linked to a resurfacing roadworks project in the area last month.

Following petitions to Buckinghamshire Council by local representatives, three bins were replaced in the town centre at the beginning of September – though it was unclear whether the reason behind their initial removal had been ascertained.