Fleegull is an original, design led innovation developed to address a real social issue. This product is born of true problem solving; In trying to reduce the amount of litter caused by seagulls and ultimately find an alternative approach to a mass culling of the bird, we discovered a revolutionary bin bag for our client that deters seagulls.

Not only did the product solve the problem we needed to solve, but it can be produced in a cost effective way by focusing on printed design over durable material. Meaning, like the best innovation, it’s not just effective, but accessible too.

Temple Bar, at the heart of Dublin’s city centre, is one of Ireland leading tourism destinations. Filled with pubs, restaurants, and trad music, it attracts up to 22 million visitors a year.

But Temple Bar has a problem: hordes of seagulls that scavenge for food in the waste bags of its pubs and restaurants, ripping them apart and leaving the streets strewn with filth.

It’s a problem that’s escalated in recent years as a declining fishing industry has forced seagulls inland to look for food, so much so that local authorities in Dublin are beginning to discuss culling them.

Our client,The Temple Bar Company, briefed us on an educational campaign that would encourage Temple Bar tenants to manage their bins better. But in our discovery process we discovered the solution didn’t in fact lie in communications, but in design.

A perfectly functional bin bag printed with a design that deters seagulls.

A design-led, highly functional innovation that slots seamlessly into its environment, without excessive cost or disruption.

Every element of the ‘Fleegulls’ bag design is inspired by extensive research into the bird’s biology and behaviour: large spherical ‘eyes’, we learned, seagulls mistake for predator eyes, a pattern that creates the illusion of movement, another deterrent for gulls; the colour red, an innately dangerous colour for humans and birds alike; and finally, a coating of UV ink - proven to be highly visible to avian eyeballs.

Fleegulls is simply, design that works - cutting seagull bin bag attacks by 74%. The Temple Bar Company were delighted we created a solution to their problem that avoided the culling of birds.

We were briefed by The Temple Bar Company in October 2018. We deep dove into the world of birds, discovering as much about seagulls as possible. Deciding a design solution was the answer took a month or two. Finding the right solution took us into January. The pure design phase continued right up to the printing of the first samples. Finding the right manufacturer who could print on the whole of both sides of a bin bag took two weeks. He created samples for us and, then the full quality prototypes in late March. By 1st April, we had the design finalised and the bags printed. We began testing the bags against birds on 4th April and ran trials in Smithfield, Temple Bar and Howth. We collated the results of the trials mid April.

Fleegulls are plastic trash bags printed with designs, colours and inks that specifically deter seagulls, thereby protecting the contents of the trash bags. Indepth research showed us a number of key facts about seagulls - and specifically what they most feared. We discovered they associated concentric circles with predators’ eyes, they are extremely sensitive to movement, they disliked the colour red and they can see ultraviolet light.

We designed a bright red plastic bag that had multiple concentric circles, an abstract pattern that made that static bag appear to move and used ultraviolet inks to further disturb the birds. Printing the 360 degree surface of the bag proved to be difficult and a number of printers turned the job down before we found Hall Print. The bags are designed to intensify the effect when two or more appear beside each other, creating the appearance of giant predator eyes.

They are an urban solution to an urban issue that incurs zero additional cost for the participants and potentially saves the lives of countless birds. We have bags printed and have researched their efficacy with the Temple Bar Company. We are awaiting next steps.

We conducted a limited trial in Dublin’s bustling Temple Bar area. There are so many seagulls, when bin bags are left out, they are immediately attacked. The success of the project would lead us to believe it is extremely scalable. The market is any business or domestic users of bin bags in areas populated by seagulls. The technology is eminently scalable and the cost differential between our bag and a regular bag is negligible with scale. As our client pointed out, we share this world with the seagulls and a method of control that didn’t involve culling is very important. Such ecological concerns apply everywhere seagulls are present.

In trials in Temple Bar, Smithfield and Howth, we had no break-ins - but nearby black bin bags were savaged. We invested in the research and The Temple Bar Company invested in development and trials.