Green bins seized from recycling ‘offenders’
Council defends policy of confiscation after hiring ‘advisers’ to check on residents’ rubbish sorting
‘They have snooped through the bags in my bin … and taken my green bin. I’m going to have to put my green waste in my black bin. It’s ridiculous’
MORE than 1,300 bins have been seized from residents as punishment for breaching recycling rules after specialist “snoopers” were hired to inspect people’s rubbish.
Kirklees council in West Yorkshire last month brought in 12 full-time “advisers” to sift through recycling bins before collections to ensure waste was segregated correctly.
Anyone found contaminating recyclable items with rubbish such as food leftovers, nappies and garden waste has their bin tagged with a yellow warning sticker.
Repeat offenders caught breaking the rules again have their green-coloured recycling bins confiscated under a “two strikes and you are out” policy.
The council confirmed 1,341 bins belonging to residents in Huddersfield had been seized since the policy was introduced on April 1 and were now impounded in a council-run depot.
Residents face a six-month wait before they can have their bins returned.
It is not clear if people face a charge for having the bins impounded.
Council chiefs said the clampdown was launched to prevent recyclable waste from being destroyed after it became “contaminated” with non-renewable waste. However, residents have argued the scheme is counterproductive as it leaves them without their bins for up to half the year, while others suggested they were powerless to stop passers-by from contaminating their waste.
Tony Swaffen, 32, said he returned home from taking his son to school to find his bin had been removed.
He said: “It’s so annoying. They have snooped through the bags in my bin. Someone has come up the driveway and just taken my green bin from the house. For the next six months, I’m going to have to put my green waste in my black bin. How are they winning by doing that? It’s ridiculous.”
The council said its scheme had led to a marked improvement in the amount of recycled waste that is rejected. Before the policy, 33 per cent of recyclable rubbish was turned away, which has now dropped to 6 per cent.
A spokesman said: “It’s important to point out that this is after those residents were educated on recycling and warned a number of times.
“Up to a third of those who have lost their bins were not making any attempt to recycle at all and were effectively using their green bin as an additional general waste bin.”
Other councils told The Daily Telegraph schemes were in place to warn residents against contaminating recyclable waste, but none said they involved confiscating bins.
Allison Ogden-newton, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: “We always want to see a substantial programme of awareness-raising and resident engagement before resorting to the withdrawal of services from householders, which guarantees that recyclable waste is going to end up in landfill or incinerated.”