P/00/012 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 ORIGINAL COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Invention Title: "WASTE BIN LINERS" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 1 TITLE: WASTE BIN LINERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION: 1. Field of the Invention: This invention relates to waste bin liners. 5 The present invention particularly relates, but is not limited to, a method of, and apparatus for, dispensing flexible liners in the interiors of waste bins. Throughout the specification, the term "waste" shall be used to include food wastes, household wastes, paper, cardboard, plastics, dust or dirt, and other like waste- or rubbish-materials. 10 2. Prior Art: Most people do not appreciate having to handle wastes, or to have to empty waste bins into waste bags or into the garbage bins for collection by the municipal authorities or professional garbage collection services. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION: 15 It is an object of the present invention to provide waste bin liners in a cassette or like dispenser which enables the liners to be fitted to the waste bins with minimal potential contact with the wastes. It is a preferred object of the present invention to provide alternative methods for locating the cassettes or liner dispensers in association with the 20 waste bins. It is a further preferred object to provide a "sealing" arrangement between the liners and the bins, or the cassettes or liner dispensers, to minimize, or ameliorate, any leakage around the liners. Other preferred objects will become apparent from the following 25 description. In one aspect, the present invention resides in a cassette or dispenser for dispensing flexible liners for waste bins, the cassette or dispenser including: a hollow body, with at least a top wall, a side wall and a bottom wall 30 defining a storage compartment for the flexible waste bin liners; and at least one dispensing outlet in the top wall; so arranged that, in use, the dispensing outlet is in operational 2 communication with an interior portion of a waste bin in which the cassette or dispenser is mounted; and the flexible waste liners stored within the storage compartment can be selectively pulled or drawn through the dispensing outlet into the interior 5 portion and be secured to at least one side wall of the waste bin, to receive and store waste deposited into the waste bin. Preferably, the cassette or dispenser is received in a cavity, or recess, below the interior portion; the cavity or recess being at least partially defined by a lower portion of the side wall(s). Preferably, the external configuration of 10 the cassette or dispenser closely conforms to the configuration of the cavity or recess. Preferably, the cassette or dispenser is separated from the interior portion by a bottom wall of the waste bin, the bottom wall having a hole or passageway substantially vertically-aligned with the dispensing outlet. 15 Alternatively, the cassette or dispenser is received within the interior of the waste bin, the top wall of the cassette or dispenser forming a bottom wall of the interior portion of the waste bin. Preferably, the hole or passageway in the bottom wall of the waste bin, or the dispensing outlet of the cassette or dispenser, has an upwardly 20 directed peripheral flange or rim, so arranged to be engaged by an adjacent portion of a liner within the interior portion to provide a sealing arrangement between the flange or rim and the liner. Preferably, the flexible liners are formed of sheet plastics-material in the form of separable tubular portions sealed at their lower ends e.g. by RF 25 welding, so arranged that successive liners can be drawn from the cassette or dispenser; be received and secured within the waste bin; receive and be filled with waste; and withdrawn from the waste bin, while drawing a successive liner into the waste bin. In a second aspect, the present invention resides in a waste bin 30 provided with at least one cassette or dispenser as hereinbefore described. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS: To enable the invention to be fully understood, preferred embodiments 3 of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is an "exploded" perspective view of a first embodiment of waste bin and a liner dispenser in accordance with the present invention; 5 FIG. 2 is an "assembled" view, corresponding to FIG. 1, with internal details shown in dashed lines; FIG. 3 is an "exploded" perspective view of a second embodiment of a waste bin and liner dispenser in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 4 is an "assembled" view, corresponding to FIG. 3; 10 FIG. 5 is an "exploded" perspective view of a third embodiment of a waste bin and liner dispenser in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is an "assembled" view, corresponding to FIG. 5; and FIG. 7 is a sectional side view corresponding to FIG. 6; 15 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS: Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, a waste bin 10 is designed to be provided with a liner dispenser 20, as will be hereinafter described in more detail. The waste bin 10 has a cylindrical body 11, formed by a peripheral side wall 12, which defines the interior portion 13 of the waste bin. 20 As illustrated in FIG. 2, the upper rim 14 of the side wall 12 releasably secures the mouth portion 51 of a flexible bin liner 50. A hinged lid 15 selectively closes the interior portion 13 of the waste bin 10. The liner dispenser 20 is received below the interior portion 13 of the 25 waste bin 10, separated there-from by a bottom wall (not illustrated) and surrounded by the lower portion of the side wall 12. The liner dispenser 20 is supported by the (e.g. floor) surface supporting the waste bin 10. The liner dispenser 20 has a hollow body 21 e.g. blow-moulded from suitable plastics-material (e.g. HDPE). 30 The hollow body 21 has a peripheral side wall 22 interconnecting the top and bottom walls 23, 24; where the side wall 22 is dimensioned to fit "snugly" within the side wall 12 of the waste bin 10.
4 As will be described with reference to FIG. 7, the hollow body 21 provides a storage compartment for a plurality of the bin liners 50 stored therein. A dispensing outlet 26 is provided centrally in the top wall 23 of the 5 hollow body 21, and is coaxially-aligned with a hole (not illustrated in the bottom wall of the interior portion 13, to enable the bin liners 50 to be selectively drawn in to the interior portion 13 of the waste bin 10 and then be secured to the upper rim 14 of the side wall 12 of the waste bin 10. A peripheral flange 27 is provided around the dispensing outlet 26 and may 10 sealably engage the hole in the bottom wall of the interior portion 13. Tags 28, or finger grips, may be provided on the hollow body 21 to enable the liner dispenser 20 to be adjustably located relative to the waste bin 10. The bin liners 50 are formed with releasably-interconnected body 15 portions 52, typically extruded in tubular form from suitable "tough" plastics material, where the portions 52 have bottom "walls" formed by RF welding and adjacent weakened :tear-lines" for separation. Examples of the bin liners are sold under the Registered Trade Mark GLAD (owned by The Glad Products Company, Oakland, California, USA). 20 As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the liner dispenser 20 is located below the interior portion 13 of the waste bin 10. A first bin liner 50 is drawn through the dispensing outlet 26 (and the hole in the bottom wall of the interior portion 13); and the mouth portion 51 of the bin liner 50 is secured to the upper rim 14 of the side wall 12 of the waste 25 bin 10. The skilled addressee will note that the lower end of the body portion 52 of the bin liner 50 is received within the dispensing outlet 26 (and storage compartment) and forms a sealing-like arrangement with the peripheral flange 27 to minimize the likelihood of any waste liquids, which may have 30 escaped into the interior portion 13, entering the liner dispenser 20. When the bin liner 50 is full of waste, the user releases the mouth portion 51 from the upper rim 14 of the side wall 12 of the waste bin 10, and 5 pulls the bin liner 50 upwardly to remove the bin liner 50 from the interior portion 13 of the waste bin 10. As the bin liner 50 is pulled upwardly, the successive bin liner 50 is drawn through the dispensing outlet 26 into the interior portion 13. 5 The successive bin liner 50 is released from the (now-full) preceding bin liner 50 and is secured within the interior portion 13, as hereinbefore described, to receive further wastes. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the waste bin 110 of the second embodiment has a recess 116, intermediate a bottom wall for the interior 10 portion 113 and a base wall 118 for the waste bin 111; the recess116 being defined by the side wall 112, and having an access mouth 117. The bottom wall for the interior portion 113 has a hole therethrough (not illustrated), which is coaxially-aligned with the dispensing outlet 126 of the liner dispenser 120, to enable the bin liners 50 to be drawn into the interior 15 portion 113 when the liner dispenser is located in the recess 116. The liner dispenser 120 is configured to fit "snugly" in the recess 116, and can be retrieved through the access mouth 117 using the tags 128. The operation of this embodiment is substantially as hereinbefore described with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2. When the last bin liner 50 has been 20 drawn from the liner dispenser 120, the liner dispenser 120 is removed from the recess 116 and substituted by a full liner dispenser 120. In the third embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5 to 7, the liner dispenser 220 is received within the interior portion 213 of the waste bin 210, and is not separated from the interior portion 213 by a bottom wall of the latter. The top 25 wall 223 of the liner dispenser 220 effectively forms the bottom wall of the interior portion 213; while the bottom wall 224 of the liner dispenser 220 is supported by a base wall 218 of the waste bin 210. FIG. 7 illustrates how the body portion 52 of the bin liner 50 sealably engages the peripheral flange 227 about the dispensing outlets 226 of the 30 liner dispenser 220. As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the third embodiment is particularly suitable for waste bins 210 which has a pedal-operated mechanism 260 to 6 raise and lower the hinged lid 215. The skilled addressee will appreciate that the provision of the bin liners 50 in the liner dispensers 20, 120, 220 enables efficient, hygienic supply of the bin liners to the waste bins 10, 110, 210; while providing minimal contact 5 with the wastes (or waste bins) when the bin liners 50 are full and need to be replaced. Various changes and modifications may be made to the embodiments described and illustrated without departing from the present invention. 10 15 20 25 30