Call for Welshpool area to adopt ‘Bins for Boys’

A cancer charity is calling for public venues in the Welshpool area to add sanitary bins to male toilets and raise awareness that a lack of them is letting men down.

Incontinence can be a side effect of cancer and cancer treatment for many men who can be left with serious bladder and bowel problems following treatment for bowel or prostate cancer.

It can also affect men who have suffered a range of other illnesses including Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome.

The Bins for Boys project is spearheaded by the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund charity, the region’s primary cancer charity.

Men who need a place to hygienically dispose of their pads, pouches, stomas, catheters, colostomy, or ileostomy bags (small intestine v large intestine stoma bags) following cancer or illness, are lacking places to do so when they are out and about.

Lingen Davies, which exists to make a positive impact on lives affected by cancer, took the evidence from a nationwide campaign by various cancer charities, which also lobbied the government about the issue, and wanted to create a real and lasting change locally.

Along with volunteer support it helps raise awareness about the signs and symptoms of cancer, and the long-term impact it can have and with the Bins for Boys project, for men in particular.

Bishops Castle is the first Bins for Boys town across the charity’s large geographical patch, and so far, 11 public venues have signed up including Enterprise House, Castle Hotel, Herbies Café, The Happy Bap, SpArc Leisure Centre and the Town Hall.

Danny Lloyd - Jones, 36 from Oswestry (pictured on the right), is involved in promoting the project. Danny was diagnosed with bowel cancer just before his 32^nd birthday and was told on the same day he would need major surgery and to have a stoma.

Danny has had 86 treatments, one major surgery and two rounds of ablation (a treatment which uses heat made by radio waves to kill cancer cells.) His latest scan was clear for the first time in four years.

“I had no idea what a stoma was until I was told I needed to have one, which was obviously life changing. I have been in well-known shops before with no sanitary bins in the toilet and I had to change my stoma and carry the bag around, which obviously I didn’t want to have to do. I think Bins for Boys is a brilliant project and I hope many more public venues get behind and help make this much-needed change.” said Danny.

“I’ve had people who have their own stomas come up to me on holiday congratulating me on walking around with my stoma confidently. They said it helped them not to feel so embarrassed. I don’t think you see many young people with one and the more people that can find out about these issues the better.

“I have found in life that most things are bigger than you and if I can do anything to raise awareness of issues like this I will gladly do so,” he added.

Tim Cooper, Chair of Trustees for Lingen Davies, said: “We know many men fear being unable to find a toilet with sanitary bins, which makes them anxious, worried, and humiliated. It can stop them leaving their homes to take part in everyday activities like enjoying a pub meal with friends, or a cup of coffee in a local café.

“Lingen Davies is signing up venues and supplying them with Bins for Boys stickers for them to display at venue entrances, toilet doors, cubicles, and on the bins themselves, giving venue name checks on social media channels and adding them to our specially developed Bins for Boys webpage and live interactive google map so that people can see venues taking part and plan their outings accordingly. Any venue which signs up and gets a bin will be added.”

CEO of Lingen Davies, Naomi Atkin, said the charity wants public venues to commit to providing a sanitary bin in their male toilet.

“Getting a sanitary bin, or an extra one from a supplier is a very low-cost thing to do but it could make a huge difference to men who are out and about and need one. We are rolling this out across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, and Mid Wales, the region served by Lingen Davies, and we hope to encourage awareness in other areas and even nationally.

“The solution is simple. Community venues can provide sanitary bins in their men’s toilets. And through the project men who need sanitary bins need will know where to find them. We hope as many public locations as possible in the region will get behind this and pledge to become a Bins for Boys venue.”

To sign to become a Bins for Boys venue or to find out more about the project, visit www.lingendavies.co.uk/ binsforboys