Aberdeen toddler gets a tour of a '˜bucket man's lorry'

MOST young children would probably like a ride in a fire engine or police car, but not Kai Milburn - his desire was to have a go in a dustbin lorry.

Kai in the bin lorry. Picture: Michal Wachucik/Aberdeen City Council

Aberdeen City Council’s waste services team made the three-year-old’s summer when he got a special tour of a bin lorry and a Waste Aware bus.

Little Kai was presented with a special certificate for his ‘honorary refuse collection training’ and goodie back including a mini wheelie bin.

His mum, Jenni Bisset, got in touch with the council as she explained one of the highlights of his week is when the ‘bucket man’s lorry’ arrives at their home in the Bridge of Don area in Aberdeen.

She said: “For the last six months, Kai has had a somewhat odd obsession with recycling and waste disposal and nothing pleases him more than seeing the ‘bucket man” come go collect our waste bins.

“He also insists on doing the recycling and opening all the buckets in every household we visit to ensure they have correctly segregated their waste - we can’t walk past a wheelie bin on the street without Kai lighting up with excitement and we’ve even driven him through the council’s local waste disposal sites in an effort to satisfy his favourite pastime.

“Most children would love to see a fire engine or a police car but for Kai, it’s a real waste disposal lorry. It’s been fantastic for Kai to get up close to one and even get a ride – we can’t thank the staff enough.”

Kai went for a ride in a 26 tonne refuse lorry along with his mum and his sister, seven-year-old Leah, while Jenni’s partner Kris Bruce looked on. The waste-mad toddler was also shown the control room, told a driver to start his work, and how the mechanism at the rear of a lorry picks up a bin and tips the waste into the back.

Aberdeen City Council communities, housing and infrastructure vice convener Councillor Philip Bell said: “Waste is something we have all got to focus on no matter what age we are, and we’ve got to start when people are young - Kai certainly has taken the message on board.”

Kai was given his tour after the waste teams had finished for the day by waste supervisor Malcolm Neil, who said: “It’s wonderful that someone so young has been bitten by the recycling bug and of course if Kai still wants to be a ‘bucket man’ when he’s older, he’s more than welcome to come back and work for us.”