Wheelie bin washes up on UK beach after 5,000-mile journey

A wheelie bin that was found on the south coast of England appears to have travelled 5,000 miles across the Atlantic from the United States.

Beachcomber Ryan Stalker found the black bin with ‘Baldwin County, Alabama‘ written on the side, and several goose barnacles attached to it.

The marine crustaceans are known to live in warm and tropical seas like the Caribbean and can't survive in the colder waters around the UK.

Ryan made some enquiries on social media and soon had responses from residents in Alabama who, using the unique code on it, confirmed the bin came from the coastal town of Fort Morgan.

They believe the wheelie bin washed into the sea during Hurricane Sally in September 2020 and entered the Gulf of Mexico.

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It has taken more than five years to find its way east across the Atlantic and was washed ashore in the winter storms.

Remarkably Ryan, 46, has even received an apology for the beach litter from the local refuse department in Alabama.

Ryan, from Weymouth, said: "After Storm Ingrid I thought there would be a good chance of finding some flotsam at Bowleaze Cove.

"I saw the wheelie bin straight away but it was bigger than the ones we have here.

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"I saw it had some barnacles attached to it so I knew it must have been in the water for some time and then I turned it over and read the writing.

"I put it on social media and a couple of people from Alabama saw it and they said it was one of the binds they have over there.

"They seemed to think it was probably lost in a big hurricane there in 2020.

"It had definitely been in the Caribbean because that is where you get goose barnacles."

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After being contacted online by the refuse department in Alabama he was asked to send them the code on the bin so they could identify it.

He said: "They got in touch with me apologising for it washing up on our beach, which I thought was nice of them to do but not necessary, it's an accident.

"They asked me to take some codes from it which I did and they confirmed it was one of three wheelie bin, or cans as they call them, that were lost at Fort Morgan in Alabama in Hurricane Sally in 2020."

Ryan took the bin home with him and it is in his back garden while he decides what to do with it.