French firm fines Scots council £50k for ‘wrong’ recycling

A COUNCIL has been forced to pay £50,000 to a French waste firm after residents put too much ‘contaminated’ rubbish in recycling bins.

Multinational Suez levied the ‘financial penalty’ on Perth and Kinross Council after the recycling waste it collected failed to meet agreed standards.

Residents had put too much food waste and other nonrecyclable items in their blue recycling bins.

A spokesman for the local authority said some residents ‘felt the current [recycling] system was complicated’.

A competitor recently valued Paris-headquartered waste specialist Suez at more than £10billion during a takeover deal.

The Perth and Kinross penalty is equivalent to the annual council tax bill for around 38 band D properties.

Highland Perthshire SNP councillor Mike Williamson called the situation ‘regrettable’. He said: ‘This contamination has undermined the efforts of everyone.’

Council officials have launched a public awareness campaign, Stick to the Six, in a bid to help

‘Many wanted clarification’

the authority avoid any further penalties. Previous loads of recyclables in Perth and Kinross have all met quality standards.

The local authority’s contract with Suez stipulates contamination levels on recyclables must not exceed 20 per cent.

A Perth and Kinross Council spokesman said the authority had engaged with residents on social media.

He said: ‘Many of those who responded wanted clarification of what was accepted through kerbside recycling.’

Richard Hinchcliffe, of Suez Recycling and Recovery UK, said its contract with the council includes ‘a standard provision’ on contamination.

He said: ‘The financial penalty only covers some of the additional costs of processing the contaminated material.’

He added that it takes longer to sort dirtier material ‘and if it is able to be sold, [it] attracts a lower market price’.

Suez sends the most ‘heavily contaminated’ waste to landfill or turns it, most commonly through incineration, into other forms of energy.

That incurs fees and landfill tax charges, he added.