Confusing sticker costs

The controversial sticker and leaflet scheme to tell some Peterborough residents their bin day is changing has cost £30,000, it has been revealed.

Bin schedules are changing in Peterborough from the beginning of March, with around 41,000 households in the city seeing the day their rubbish is collected changed.

However, every household in the city will have stickers put on their bin, and leaflets put through their door, whether their bin day is changing or not.

This has led some to accuse the cash-strapped council of wasting money, with others saying the sticker has caused confusion with residents.

The money has come out of Aragon’s budget – the firm being wholly owned by Peterborough City Council.

Cllr Nick Sandford, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Peterborough City Council, said there was no need to use the stickers if leaflets were also being sent out.

He said; “Putting stickers on bins is not a useful way of communicating.

“I might not put my black bin out every two weeks, for example, and could be missed. It may have been better to use alternative means of communicating, such as just putting leaflets out. That would be much more cost-effective.”

Last week Cllr Shaz Nawaz, leader of the Labour party on the council, asked whether the sticker campaign was ‘the most cost effective’ way of communicating the changes, while Cllr Julie Howell, leader of the Green Party on the council, added: “While there is a rationale for putting stickers on all bins (so people with no sticker don’t think their bin has been missed), using the same sticker for streets that will have a date change as those that will not has created an understandable mixture of confusion, frustration and exasperation.

“Personally, I wouldn’t have put any sticker on the bins of households that are not subject to change.

“It’s not difficult to ‘read the room’ at the moment. Residents are understandably angry that the council appears to be spending money frivolously at a time when horrible cuts are to be made throughout the city.”

A spokesman for Aragon said every household in the city would see some sort of change from March 1.

They said; “Every household in the city will be affected by the new recycling and waste collection round schedule, which is why we needed to ensure that everyone received the communications about the upcoming changes.

“The collection day will change for approximately

41,000 properties, but all collection rounds behind the scenes are being completely rebalanced, meaning that properties with no day change may well be collected by a different crew.

“So, for properties where there is not a day change, the time of their collection is likely to be different and will continue to be tweaked as the new rounds are implemented during March.

“The leaflet being mailed to residents includes a calendar of collection days for the remainder of 2022. Messaging on the leaflet stresses the importance of bins being put out by 6.45am to ensure that collections are not missed by our crews.

“Whilst we appreciate that some people do not see the need for a bin sticker if their collection day is not changing, the stickers are to ensure that residents look out for the additional information in the post and understand that changes are coming.

“We don’t want residents to put a bin out at 9am and not have it collected as the crew were in their street at 7am. This causes unnecessary stress for the residents and emails/calls to the council.

“The leaflet also has the dual purpose of encouraging a greater uptake in recycling in the city as we used it as an opportunity to remind residents which waste should be placed in which bin.

“The BBC One documentary ‘Our Bin Lorry Life’, which aired on Wednesday evening, followed Aragon bin crews and really highlighted the issues locally of residents putting the wrong waste in the wrong bins and the wider impact that this has.

“We’re keen to do everything we can to make Peterborough a more environmentally friendly city.

“The cost to Aragon of this communication campaign is approximately £30,000.”

The stickers used are not recyclable.

City residents should have had a stick like this on their bins

pic to come wednesday