Town hit by crime wave . . . thanks to its new slim bins!
Arson and fly-tipping up, say firemen
A COUNCIL that forced residents to use smaller wheelie bins in an attempt to boost recycling has been accused by fire chiefs of increasing fly-tipping and arson.
labour-run Bolton Council was the first in the country to introduce ‘slim bins’.
Despite opposition, it spent £2million switching all its 240-litre grey bins – for waste that cannot be recycled – to 140-litre ones last summer in the hope it would force residents to recycle more.
But according to a report from fire chiefs the smaller bins have caused a 30 per cent rise in arson incidents and have had a ‘negative impact’ on fly-tipping.
It states that over the past eight months firemen had been called out to 354 ‘ loose refuse’ fires, against 271 over the same period in 2015. ‘The borough has now virtually completed the change over from large wheelie bins to the smaller versions,’ said the Greater Manchester Fire and rescue Authority.
‘This has already had a negative impact on the amount of fly tipping, which will subsequently impact on the volume of deliberate secondary fires over time.’
Paul Sumner, manager of Farnworth fire station near Bolton, said: ‘Our data shows while there has been a small rise in the number of wheelie bin fires in Bolton, we have generally seen an increase in deliberate fires, including loose refuse, rubbish and wheelie bins.’
But last night council chiefs questioned the credibility of the report and claimed fly-tipping had actually gone down since the slim bins were brought in.
Councillor Nick Peel said: ‘I don’t know how they can say that the number has increased.
‘They don’t have the data to back it up – the conclusion is false. I don’t dispute that there may have been an increase in the number of callouts to loose rubbish fires, but they don’t collect fly-tipping data.
‘The council has to weigh and measure the amounts that are picked up from fly-tipping and those figures show that the amount of refuse picked up from fly tips has decreased.’
Mr Peel said the authority has spent money on educating youngsters and other residents not to fly-tip or start fires.
Bolton Council announced plans to switch to slimmer bins in 2015 but the measure was opposed by campaigners, who warned that it would lead to more fly-tipping, overflowing bins and vermin.
Many said they were already struggling to fit waste into their 240litre grey bin, which is collected fortnightly, and would not be able to cope with bins that had 100litres less capacity.
At the time, Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group, said: ‘ The least residents expect from their hefty council tax payments is that their rubbish is dealt with – and this bonkers decision makes that less likely.’