A WHEELIE bin washed ashore on the south coast – after an epic five year, 5,000 mile trip across the Atlantic.
Stunned beachcomber Ryan Stalker spotted it as he walked along Bowleaze Cove in Weymouth, Dorset.
The only clue as to its origins were the words on the side which read: “Baldwin County, Alabama.”
Ryan, 46, used it as a starting point and reached out to local residents online for help.
They pointed him in the direction of the refuse department in Alabama who, in turn, asked for the bin’s unique serial numbers.
Using that they were able to confirm it came from the coastal town of Fort Morgan.
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Ryan, of Weymouth, said: “I saw it straight away, but it was bigger than the ones we have here.
“It had some barnacles attached to it so I knew it must have been in the water for some time.
“I turned it over and that’s when I saw the writing.
“I put it on social media and a couple of people from Alabama saw it.”
He was then contacted by the state’s refuse department who offered an apology for littering his local beach.
Ryan said: “They asked me to take some codes from it which I did and they confirmed it was one of three wheelie bins, or cans as they call them, that were lost at Fort Morgan in Alabama during Hurricane Sally in 2020.”
The bin – which washed up at the weekend after Storm Ingrid – is now in Ryan’s back garden and will remain there until he decides what to do with it.
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