What was meant to be a time-saving measure on a recent bin night backfired for suburban man Darren Chen, 36, when he failed in an attempt to take two wheelie bins to the curb in one go.

Mr Chen, who was trying to save time by rolling his rubbish and recycling bin down his driveway together, said he thought it would be much easier. “I had a hold of both of them, but then the wheels kept knocking together, and they wouldn’t go straight.”

The problem got worse for Mr Chen when the family car got in the way. “I was trying to get them between the car and the fence, which meant I had to push one and pull the other one in single file”, said the frustrated dad of two. “Then I lost hold of the rubbish bin, and it went over.”

Mr Chen then had to pick up a chicken carcass, several bits of sticky plastic and a disgusting meat container with his bare hands. But, although admitting it was “pretty gross”, he said he would try it again in a heartbeat, rejecting calls from his neighbour that he should have moved them one at a time.

“One it saves time and two I hate going back and forth like that. And, at the end of the day, you have to have a go”, said the unrepentant Mr Chen. “If it had worked, I would have saved around six seconds off my life. Six seconds!!”