Anger as council refuses to empty bins
Residents are told contaminated recycling will be rejected,
PEOPLE living in a Burton street have been left furious after their recycling bins were left unemptied after being rejected due to contamination.
Many blue recycling bins in Goodman Street were left unemptied on Tuesday. Each one had a sticker placed on it saying they contained contaminated recycling and containing details of what can and cannot be placed in them.
East Staffordshire Borough Council, which is responsible for emptying the bin in Burton, posted on its Facebook page warning people that bins containing items not on its list for recycling would be rejected. It says no changes have been made to what can and cannot be placed in the blue bin.
It said: “Look out for the new recycling sticker being put on to the blue wheeled bins over the next few weeks.
“Only items listed on the sticker can be put into the blue bin. If your blue bin contains any other items it will not be emptied.”
Geoffrey Fitchett has been living in Goodman Street for 10 years and said this has never happened before.
The 70-year-old said: “This is outrageous and I am very unhappy with East Staffordshire Borough Council.
“There are hundreds of bins which haven’t been picked and the next round is two weeks away so where are people going to put their rubbish?
“I saw people putting the new stickers on the bins on Tuesday, but we weren’t warned about these changes or made aware of them before.
Councillor Ray Faulkner, the borough council’s deputy leader for environment and housing, said: “There have been no changes to the materials that can and cannot be placed in the blue bin.
Paper, including magazines and newspapers, envelopes, junk mail and flyers, should still be placed in the blue bag.
“The council has seen an increase in the number of incorrect items placed into blue wheeled bins resulting in contamination.
“High levels of contamination can lead to an entire vehicle load of around 18 tonnes being rejected by the processing facility and a single rejected load can cost the council approximately £3,000 to dispose of. In an attempt to reduce the levels of contamination in blue bins, the council is undertaking an awareness campaign to help residents identify items that can be collected for recycling. “The council’s waste collection crews are trained to look for contamination and will reject bins that contain incorrect materials.
“The collection crew will help in identifying the reason for non-collection by leaving a contamination sticker on the recycling bin.”
This is outrageous and I am very unhappy with East Staffordshire Borough Council.
Geoffrey Fitchett