From a local idea to a market leader

CleanerBins was founded in 2009 by friends Anna & Ayesha . They had a moment of realisation while staring into their own smelly, neglected wheelie bins. Like many households, they had no convenient or professional way to get their bins cleaned. After some local research, they discovered something surprising: no one was offering a bin-cleaning service in Milton Keynes or the surrounding South Northants area. That small inconvenience revealed a bigger opportunity. With hygiene and cleanliness becoming more important to homeowners, they saw a clear demand for a reliable, eco-conscious solution. And so, CleanerBins was born! Starting as a two-person team with a simple mission—to keep local bins clean and odour-free—they began knocking on doors and handing out flyers. The response from the community was instant and enthusiastic. Word quickly spread and today, CleanerBins is Milton Keynes’ largest and longest-serving wheelie bin cleaning service.

Scaling up the right way CleanerBins now operates with 3 dedicated staff members and 3 fully branded vans equipped with self-contained, eco-friendly cleaning systems that filter and recycle water. Their vans have become a familiar sight across local neighbourhoods and their business is known for consistency, reliability and exceptional customer service. CleanerBins isn’t just another cleaning service, they’ve carved out a unique space by focusing on quality, sustainability and community.

Their key differentiators are:

• 15+ years of trusted local experience.
• Environmentally friendly, on-site cleaning systems that leave no wastewater behind
• A simple, flexible subscription model using credits (e.g. 6 cleans for £33, 12 for £66, 24 for £120)
• Strong community engagement, including sponsorship of events and local football teams.
• A focus on personalised service, even as the business scales.

CleanerBins has never relied on big ad campaigns. Instead, their growth has come from the power of referrals and grassroots visibility. “Most of our customers find us through word of mouth. From the start, we focused on being reliable, friendly and professional, and that’s what gets people talking.” They also took a creative, hands-on approach in the early days—tagging bins with branded stickers after collection day. It was simple but incredibly effective, especially as neighbours noticed the difference.

Discovering Squeegee As CleanerBins continued to grow, so did the complexity of managing recurring cleans, subscription credits, customer communications and multi-van scheduling. Their original process involved daily printed spreadsheets and manual admin—time-consuming, error-prone, not scalable and smelly!

They then transitioned to a custom-built app, which helped streamline things but it lacked flexibility, support and long-term adaptability. Then they discovered Squeegee. “We chose Squeegee because it was clearly built for businesses like ours. The features, the usability and the support were exactly what we needed. It’s helped us professionalise and simplify our operations.”

CleanerBins launched their customer portal on Squeegee in March 2024, after working closely with the Squeegee team to tailor the system to their needs.

Key features making a difference:

• Automated customer reminders: Significantly reduces missed cleans and improve customer satisfaction
• Customer Portal: Customers can easily see how many cleans they have left and the team has full visibility into subscriptions and it makes it easy for them to manage their subscriptions and bookings
• Route planning and scheduling: Keeps all three vans running efficiently and adapts quickly to last-minute changes
• Mobile job logging: Operators can record cleans in real time, improving accuracy and saving time

“We’ve gone from spreadsheets and paperwork to a fully integrated system. It’s saved us time, reduced errors and made it easier to scale.”

With more households now using multiple bins and demand continuing to grow, CleanerBins is well positioned for expansion. But they’re keen to do it the right way.

“We’re always looking to grow, but we never want to lose the personal touch. With Squeegee handling the admin and data, we can focus on what we do best: building relationships and delivering a great service.”