Waste basket liner system

A waste disposal bin assembly comprises an outer casing having a sidewall and an open top. A self-supporting insert member conforms to the internal shape of the sidewall and has an upper rim located below a top edge of the sidewall. A disposable bag is inserted in the insert member and has an upper portion folded over the rim of the insert member and tucked between the insert member and an inner surface of the sidewall. In this way, the disposable bag can be neatly retained within the waste disposal bin.

This invention relates to waste disposal bins, and more particularly to a 
waste disposal bin having an open top of the type commonly used in homes 
and offices. 
To assist in the removal of waste items and to avoid soiling the interior 
of the bin, it is common practice for people to insert disposable plastic 
bags into waste disposal bins so that the contents can be easily removed 
by removing and disposing of the bag. The bags may be commercially 
available liners intended for this purpose, or, for example, used shopping 
bags such as plastic grocery bags. 
In order to retain the bag in place, it is common practice to fold the lip 
of the bag over the upper edge of the bin in a convoluted fashion. Often 
the bin will be designed to have an attractive appearance, for example it 
may be a wickerwork basket or have a decorated surface, and the untidy 
effect of the visible bag considerably detracts from the overall 
appearance of the waste bin. In addition, if heavy items are inserted into 
the bin, the bag may collapse into the interior of the bin thus allowing 
waste, particularly liquid waste, for example from coffee cups, to pass 
between the bin wall and the bag. This can soil the bin, and in the case, 
for example, of a wicker bin, permanently damage it. 
An object of the invention is to alleviate the aforementioned problems. 
According to the present invention there is provided a waste disposal bin 
assembly comprising an outer casing having a sidewall and an open top, a 
self-supporting insert member conforming to the internal shape of said 
sidewall and having an upper rim located below a top edge of said 
sidewall, and a disposable bag inserted in said insert member and having 
an upper portion folded over said rim of said insert member and tucked 
between said insert member and an inner surface of said sidewall. 
While the invention applies to open top bins, it is of course understood 
that the bin may have an openable lid, for example it may be a pedal bin. 
Preferably the insert member is flexible and resiliently formable so that 
it can conform to the internal shape of the sidewall. It may be in the 
form of a flat sheet folded into the shape of the bin. 
The bag itself may be an ordinary plastic bag, such as a grocery bag, or 
alternatively may be a custom design bin liner. 
The insert member is preferably made of polyethylene.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the open topped bin, which is conveniently a 
wickerwork bin, has inserted therein a plastic grocery bag 2. The upper 
portion 3 of the grocery bag 2 is folded over a top edge 4 of the bin 1. 
Of course, an openable lid (not shown) can be placed over the bin assembly. 
As apparent from FIG. 1, this arrangement looks quite ugly and detracts 
from the appearance of the bin 1, which may have a decorative surface. 
Also, especially when heavy objects are thrown into the bin there is a 
tendency for the bag to collapse and the upper portion 3 to slip off the 
bin 1. 
Referring now to FIG. 2, this shows a bin assembly in accordance with the 
invention. In FIG. 2, an insert member 5 is located inside the bin 1 such 
that it conforms to the internal shape thereof. The insert member 5, as 
shown in FIG. 3, is made of a polyethylene sheet folded into the shape of 
the bin. The sheet 5 is sufficiently stiff to be self-supporting, yet 
sufficiently deformable to conform to the shape of the bin 1. It also has 
a slight resilience so that when inserted into the bin 1 it can be 
manually compressed to a size smaller than the bin 1. Upon release, it 
expands resiliently outward to conform to the shape of the bin 1. 
In FIG. 2 the bag 3, instead of being placed over the bin 1, is placed 
within the insert 5 such that the upper portion 3 is folded over upper rim 
6 of the insert member 5. The convoluted upper portion 3 then becomes 
tucked between interior surface 7 of bin sidewall 8 and is retained in a 
neat arrangement trapped between the insert 5 and the interior surface 7 
by the resilience of the insert 5. 
The upper rim 6 of the insert 5 lies a distance h below the upper edge 4 of 
the sidewall 8 of the bin 1. The distance h is small relative to the total 
height of the bin, but sufficiently large to locate the rim 6 neatly below 
the upper edge 4. Viewed in the plane of the upper edge 4, the bag 2 is 
therefore not visible. 
The bag 2 can be a conventional plastic grocery bag or a custom-made bag 
designed to fit within the insert 5. 
The bin 1 is shown as having a generally rectangular cross-section, 
although it will be understood to one skilled in the art that the 
invention applies equally well to bins of circular cross-section or any 
other cross-section. 
It will also be noted that the bin 1 has a slight inward taper. In order to 
ensure that the insert 5 conforms to this taper, the insert 5 is shaped in 
an arcuate manner as shown in FIG. 4, which is an opened out view of the 
insert member 5. For a bin with no taper the insert 5 is rectangular in 
the opened-out view. 
In order to use the assembly, the user first takes a plastic bag, which may 
be a grocery bag or a custom designed bin liner. He then places it within 
the folded insert 5 (see FIG. 3) and folds the upper portion 3 over the 
rim 6 of the insert 5. The insert 5 is then manually compressed to a size 
less than the internal size of the bin 1, and the insert 5 placed within 
the bin 1. The insert 5 is then released and allowed to deform resiliently 
so as to conform generally to the shape of the internal surface of the bin 
1. It will be understood that the insert 5 does not have to match the 
internal shape of the bin 1 exactly, but merely sufficiently to retain the 
bag 2 in a neat and tidy arrangement. 
While in the preferred embodiment the insert 1 is in the form of a 
deformable sheet, it is of course possible to make rigid inserts for 
specific bins. In this arrangement, a special insert would have to be made 
for each type of bin available. 
It will be seen that the invention overcomes the problems of the prior art 
in that it neatly and effectively retains the bag in place within the 
waste bin without detracting from the overall appearance of the latter.