A Wymondham bin-cleaning company that already has a presence in the US, Australasia and South Africa has moved into mainland Europe for the first time.

A Wymondham bin-cleaning company that already has a presence in the US, Australasia and South Africa has moved into mainland Europe for the first time.

VIP Bin Cleaning - a franchise business based in Wymondham that is set to double the number of its operations over the next two years - has signed a deal in Belgium, leading to its first non-English-speaking franchise.

VIP's growing operations mean it is now involved in the washing, sanitising and drying of waste containers ranging from domestic wheelie bins and larger bins used by restaurants, hospitals and shopping malls up to large compactors used on recycling sites. VIP's rapid growth now means that it cleans more than two million bins around the world every year. Across its franchise operations, VIP recorded sales of �4m in 2008-09.

'The whole concept of bin-cleaning has changed, and we now deal with every type of bin,' said VIP managing director Mark Harvey.

'It's no longer just wheelie bins we deal with and it's not just domestic customers we have.'

The business has seen a surge of interest since it began life in 1997, thanks in large part to environmental concerns. The tightening of regulations has meant a growing number of clients have taken steps to ensure their bins are cleaned in an environmentally-friendly way.

VIP' says that its 80 operations around the world prevent 240,000 litres of dirty water entering the ground water supply each month. The company's mobile bin-cleaning units carry their own water supplies and have on-board water recycling plants that capture, filter and recycle the water used in the cleaning process. The technology enables bins to be vacuum-dried using a water extraction system, with all the water being captured and filtered back into the bin-cleaning unit.