An award-winning inventor is hoping to clean up more than the streets of Brighton and Hove with his latest design.

Builder Steve Capon has designed the Binvelope to protect bags of rubbish by keeping them away from gulls and cats - and off the streets.

He has also identified about 60 other uses - from keeping food to home storage - for the device, which he first came up with about two years ago after noticing the amount of rubbish on the pavements.

He said: "It was obvious from the rubbish that bin bags were no match for the birds and animals around the city and I decided something new was needed to ease the problem."

But he arrived at the Binvelope by accident.

He said: "I was on a train to Ipswich which was delayed for a couple of hours. I had some cardboard with me, which I'd got from a friend who is a teacher, so I made a box with a lid while I was waiting."

"We were then asked to leave the train but I wasn't sure what to do with this massive box.

"I went to flatten it and it folded easily. I thought it might make a good design for a compact and mobile dustbin."

This was not the only stroke of luck for Mr Capon, who won a bronze medal in the industrial category of the British Invention of Year 2002 awards for his Tripperlight. It lights up a fuse box using the same method emergency signs use when a circuit trips. When the fuse trips, the light comes on, making it safer to change.

Although a friend made a prototype of the Binvelope, the number of business opportunities only became apparent when Kevin Stach, who he met through his new bank manager, designed an improved version almost 18 months later.

Mr Capon, who lives in Hove, said: "The bank I'd been with for 20 years turned down my request for a loan to develop the Tripperlight but my new bank manager was very interested in my ideas and suggested I meet Kevin, who immediately saw the value in what I was trying to do."

The pair have been showing the revised design to potential customers and Mr Capon said Brighton and Hove City Council was considering a pilot scheme to test it.

He said making the Binvelopes for the "right price" was essential to the design's success.

He said he and Mr Stach were exploring the possibility of getting an initial batch made in China.

Mr Stach, who lives in Devon, said: "It's unfortunate we can't get them made here but the main thing is it's a British idea."

Mr Capon said he was devoting more of his time to inventing and has recently been appointed to the committee of the Round Table of Inventors for Croydon and the South-East.

He said: "There are lots of inventors out there and lots of good inventions.

"It's vital they know who they can talk to and how to go about getting their products made."

For further information about the Binvelope, email binvelope@aol.com