Families hit by f ines in council bin crackdowns
COUNCILS across the country are cracking down on rubbish offences – including fining a woman £ 400 for putting cardboard in a Brighton bin.
A man in Essex was billed £1,000 for using the wrong refuse bags – while some Bristol families claim they have to use 13 different bins.
Punitive measures are being imposed nationwide – yet some councillors claim locals are ‘deliberately doing the wrong thing’.
A businesswoman condemned Brighton and Hove City Council after she was fined £400 for putting cardboard in a recycling bin.
Sarah Reason, 44, who runs a perlating
‘Disproportionate to any other fine’
fume shop, said she ‘ burst into tears’ when she received the fixed penalty notice.
Her name and shop address were found on the binned box by a council environment officer.
She described the clampdown as ‘complete and utter madness’, telling Brighton’s Argus newspaper: ‘It’s totally disproportionate to any other fine.’
The council said: ‘Businesses have a legal duty to ensure that any commercial waste relating to their business is disposed of legally through a waste management company.
‘Those who fail to do so are at risk of receiving fixed penalty notices.’
And an Essex homeowner was fined £1,000 for driving across Basildon to dump pink and black sacks.
He tossed them in communal bins despite local authority rules stipuseparate places for certain items. Conservative councillor Craig Rimmer backed the crackdown, saying a small number of people were ‘deliberately doing the wrong thing – it is a form of fly-tipping’.
Meanwhile Bristol locals say they have been told to sort their rubbish into 13 different bins.
Homeowners on Caledonia Place separate their household waste, cardboard, plastic, tins and glass, food and garden waste – but also clothing, shoes and batteries.
Resident Marion Westwood, 86, said: ‘It’s ridiculous – where’s it going to end?’
But Bristol Waste Company, which runs local services, has disputed claims over the number of bins. The firm said: ‘We offer Bristol residents five bins – four recycling containers and one general waste wheelie bin.’
The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs has said: ‘Fines should never be used as a means to raise revenue.’