Although an intrinsic part of our everyday routines, the dustbin's role as a mediator of changing waste practices has rarely been considered. As bins become reconfigured as environmental technologies for contemporary recycling programmes, is argued that they provide a revealing indicator of new waste relationships in society. These emerging relationships are explored by tracing through a number of past and present bin technologies, showing how they represent changing waste meanings, practices and responsibilities. The future of the bin and how adopting a bin-centred approach can help researchers and planners reconceptualize waste 'problems' and so reconsider waste management strategies are speculated upon.