Could we get refund for storing wheelie bins?

THE report about waste bins being set on fire in Whitchurch and the cost of their replacement raises a few thoughts.

Recycling is important and wheelie bins were introduced to help this happen. However, did any resident actually sign a contract to take one of these bins? Did anyone sign to say the majority of residents have to keep it on their property until the bin is emptied?

Where I live we are told to keep it inside our property and put it out on collection day, then return it back onto our property. The bin, as originally issued, is the property of Cardiff council and we are told to “look after it”. We cannot take it with us if we move house as it doesn’t belong to us and we must not use it for any other purpose. Therefore, if it is not our property, why don’t we charge Cardiff council for its storage on our property six days out of seven? Perhaps a refund on our council tax!

In the case of the residents who have had/will have to pay for a replacement bin for reasons beyond their control, if they pay out money does it not then become their property and not the council’s? We paid for the bins originally from our council tax and we continue to pay our council tax. So, I am living in a property which was the same one as when the wheelie bins were rolled out initially and I got a “free” bin, even though my council tax paid for it. If I now decide to move to a new property and be the first to live there I will get a “free” wheelie bin automatically for the new house. Yet I have to act as a storage facility for the council’s property free of charge for more than 300 days a year, pay for it over and over again via my council tax every year, but should someone decide to set it alight or vandalise it I have to pay yet again from my purse for the privilege of getting a new one. But if a council employee damages it when collecting the waste from it , I can get a free one , and I also have the privilege of paying the employee who damages it from my council tax.

It’s a funny old world, and council tax even funnier.

It pays for a wheelie bin. It pays for a wheelie bin if you move to a brand new house. It pays for the waste collection staff who empty it. It pays for a wheelie bin if a member of waste collection staff damages it. Hopefully it will pay for replacements across the city when the wheelie bins come to the end of their life – anyone know how long that life is?

But council tax is not so brilliant if an anti-social cretin wants to set the wheelie bin on fire or do other damage .

Perhaps Cardiff can lead the way with its residents asking for a council tax refund based on storing council property free of charge. It would make a change from Brexit.

Judith Woodman Pentwyn, Cardiff

Did any resident actually sign a contract to take one of these bins? Judith Woodman Pentwyn