Two carpenters from Bundaberg Regional Council, Queensland, have created an innovative solution to stop the vandalism of sharps containers in the region’s parks and garden facilities.
Nathan Moore and Steven Lavender’s idea to protect the seams of the containers from being prised open has resulted in no replacements needed since Christmas.
It’s a job the duo said they were proud to have achieved, considering the amount of damaged containers they were fixing on a daily basis.
“We were getting one to two requests per day to either fix or replace them with a new one,” Moore said.
“I had a talk to Steve about it and told him what I thought would work and we tried it out at a couple of places where the containers were frequently vandalised.
“We made a metal frame that surrounds the sharps unit and prevents access to the folded seams.
“At a cost of around $20 in materials to make the frames, this was a much cheaper option than replacing or repairing multiple units.”
The duo didn’t stop there and went a step further to make brackets for the soap dispensers too.
Lavender said, “Many of the soap dispensers were being unscrewed from the wall and stolen.
“We designed a metal bracket to avoid that happening.
“So far we haven’t had to replace any of the sharps containers or soap dispensers since fitting the brackets around Christmas time.”
After securing sharps containers and soap dispensers at Lions Park, the central business district and Jaycees Park, the carpenters said they would continue to fit more brackets at other Council sites.
Group Supervisor, Blair Shipsides said he was pleased to see free thinking and a pro-active approach to problem solving within his team.
“I’m really happy with our carpenters using innovation to create a cost effective and real solution to the vandalism issue around our toilet blocks.
“Their design has not only solved the issue of the containers getting broken into but has also saved ratepayer dollars in constant repairs and replacements.
“In addition to that, they have made our public facilities safer for the community to use,” he said.
