In the latest British drug fad, teenagers are sniffing the fumes of burning wheelie bins to get high, it has been claimed.
Officials at a waste management company have said youngsters across Britain are putting their bodies on the line by torching plastic bins so that they can get a buzz off the fumes.
It's believed that certain dyes in the manufacturing of the waste bins can create fumes that get users high.
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Far from being mere stupidity, anti-solvent abuse charities have said inhaling bin fumes could be more dangerous than sniffing glue or petrol.
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Mark Hall, of waste firm businesswaste.co.uk, said his company has had reports, with cases up 100 per cent in the last few months.
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He revealed: "We've seen reports from Wolverhampton, Hull, Glasgow and Swindon over recent weeks, and they're all the same.
"Idiots stealing wheeled bins from outside homes and businesses, taking them to waste ground or parks, and torching them for whatever kicks they can derive.
"While some of them could just be arson, others include quotes from police officers who acknowledge that they're doing it for weird drug-related kicks."
Image: SWNS
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Business Waste has received 'hundreds' of reports from clients who found ruined bins.
Mark said: "There was a craze about ten years ago and it died out.
"All of a sudden we are getting reports again. We have got a huge amount of them being burnt at the moment.
"It is growing - there is 100 per cent more than there was last month."
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Mark also mentioned the fact the trend first surfaced a decade ago in South Yorkshire.
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The trend surfaced a decade ago in South Yorkshire but appeared to have made a revival, he said.
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In 2007, South Yorkshire Police issued a warning to leave bins alone after 40 of them went up in smoke in the space of four months.
Current statistics are scant given that few people are reporting the bin fires to the police, according to Mark.
He said: "Just one aerosol might cause a potentially fatal explosion.
Image: SWNS
"And bins stolen from business premises could contain just about anything that can cause fatal injury to the unwary.
"Our people are sick of having to scrape melted plastic from pavements and parks, and our clients hate the inconvenience of having their bins stolen."
Stephen Ream, a spokesman for solvent abuse charity Re-Solv, said: "It would be very dangerous. It sounds like it would make you sick before you got high.
"The fumes it would give off would be toxic."
Featured Image Credit: SWNS