A bizarre mystery has gripped one of Perth’s most affluent suburbs, with residents reporting their wheelie bins have gone missing as an enormous collection of rubbish bins — so big it can be seen from space — emerges at a local property.
Locals in Mt Lawley have taken to social media to report missing bins, with extraordinary photographs emerging of what appears to be a sea of green and yellow lid wheelie bins crammed into the backyard of a William Street property.
The collection is so enormous it can even be seen in imagery captured from space, with an aerial view revealing dozens of colourful bin lids scattered across a substantial portion of the property.
In an anonymous Facebook post, one resident claimed a woman had been spotted entering a property and attempting to take a wheelie bin.
The resident said they confronted the woman and asked her to leave, with the incident frightening their young children.
The resident questioned whether it was legal for so many council bins to be kept at one property and whether the council was aware of the situation.
“Is there a family member who can help her?” the resident wrote.
“She obviously needs some support to stop entering into people’s homes and taking bins.”
The claims have sparked concern among other residents, with questions now being raised about where the missing bins have gone and whether they are connected to the collection pictured at the William Street property.
The City of Vincent, which covers the Mt Lawley area, said it was aware of community concerns about missing bins.
“The City is unable to comment on individual properties or potential compliance matters involving residents,” CEO David MacLennan said.
“We encourage residents to report missing or suspected stolen bins on our website.”
Mr MacLennan said commercial bins and collection services were managed by private waste providers rather than the council, with businesses encouraged to contact their provider directly about missing bins.
WA Police said investigations into the matter were ongoing.
However, the mystery remains far from solved.
It is unclear exactly how many bins have disappeared from the neighbourhood, how the extraordinary collection came to be or whether any of the bins pictured belong to residents who have reported theirs missing.
No connection between the collection and the alleged thefts has been established, and it is not known whether anyone has been charged.
Residents who believe their bins have been stolen are encouraged to report the matter to the City of Vincent and WA Police.
