Residents have taken to social media to vent their anger and frustration over a council clampdown on recycling.
In recent weeks, refuse workers from Caerphilly County Borough Council have been looking into people’s brown recycling bins to see if the right waste is being put into them.
People falling foul of the recycling rules have had their bin slapped with a red warning sticker and their recycling left uncollected.
The council has said the tough action was needed as recycling was being turned away by its contractors at huge cost.
However, the move has not gone down well with residents who have swamped Caerphilly Council’s online Facebook page with hundreds of messages.
Rhian Todd, posted: “My recycling bin had a sticker placed on it.
“Had a follow up visit by some representative from the council who removed the sticker and apologised for it not being emptied.
“There was an apple core on top which is the only thing he could identify as not belonging. I fill my food waste bin so this was probably dropped on top by a passer-by.
“My council tax bill is near £200 per month. Most people will end up putting their recycling in black bags and taking them to the tip if they aren’t emptied. This is ridiculous.”
Another resident, Deborah Powell, commented: “My brown bin wasn’t emptied because of a plastic bag which had recycling on it and a banana skin which wasn’t put there by ourselves.”
Michelle White said: “So I get a sticker on my bin this morning…. I wash everything before I put it in there only to find that someone has put a bag of mixed rubbish on the top. How am I supposed to stop that?”
According to the council in July and August this year, 770 tonnes of recycling was rejected – which cost the council more than £40,000 to dispose of.
The cost of recycling to the council is a long-standing problem with sizable budget overspends in recent years brought about by contractors refusing to take certain materials – such as plastic bags, despite bags displaying the recycling logo.
In a statement, a Caerphilly County Borough Council spokeswoman said: “For the last three years, the council has carried out extensive door-to-door engagement with residents which had two key aims; to encourage more people to recycle and to ensure they place the correct items in the correct bin.
“As well as speaking to householders each time, every household has been supplied with a leaflet, at every visit, outlining exactly what can and cannot be recycled.
“Despite these interventions and education activities, the level of contaminant in Caerphilly County Borough Council’s recycling remains high.
“It’s clear that this cannot continue – and so over a number of weeks recently the council has introduced an additional system of physically ‘checking’ recycling bins to determine whether they contain contaminant. Where they do, the bins have received a sticker and the household notified that their bin contained incorrect items, and cannot be collected while the recycling remains contaminated.
“It’s important to also be clear that this additional system isn’t intended to penalise the vast majority of residents who recycle correctly.
“We’re very grateful to these residents for their support, but need the small minority who either aren’t doing it – or are doing it incorrectly – to come on board. In truth, the sterling efforts of the majority are being adversely affected by the minority.
“If contamination levels remain at the levels previously experienced, more loads will be rejected, and will result in a significant cost to the council, and therefore taxpayers.
“It’s also important to note that of the bins that were unable to be emptied due to contaminant, over 80% of these contained food waste. Other popular items which have been placed incorrectly in the recycling bin include dog waste, nappies and even sanitary products. Again, this is not about penalising those who are doing the right thing, but simply to encourage those who are not doing it correctly to come on board.”
Since the start of the checks, the council has said it has seen a “marked improvement” with a significant reduction in the number of ‘contaminated’ bins not being collected.
Cllr Nigel George, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services, said: “The fact is that even one incorrect item placed within the recycling bin can contaminate the entire lorry load of recycling, which can then be refused by the recycling contractor. This then costs the council, and of course the taxpayer, money.
“In order to ensure Caerphilly remains one of the best recyclers in Wales, the council has had to take this additional step as a means of reminding residents what can and cannot be recycled.”
However, some residents have reportedly thrown the towel in and have given up on recycling with pictures posted of notices attached to brown recycling bins.
One read: “Please take this bin with you as I don’t recycle anymore.
“CCBC you are a joke.”
What utter psyops bullshite by CCBC!
We did recycle until this kicked off. Every thing was washed, sorted, separately bagged, then put in the brown bin.
I now have an incinerator, everything that can be burned will be, everything else can go to landfill.
& please don’t whine about “oooh the smoke damages the environment” As there are so many people using log burners to heat their homes & no one is whinging at them?
It’s the CCBC bin gestapo justifying their overpaid positions, CCBC should really get it’s own house in order before coming all heavy handed just because there’s an apple core in the wrong bin. There’s a few bad apples currently being handsomely paid to sit at home at the expense of Caerphilly tax payers that need chucking out with the rest of the rubbish.
I think just about everybody had one of these red stickers, I certainly did but my bin was emptied as usual. As I have mentioned in a previous post residents have no control over what is put in their bins after they leave them outside.
As the council themselves say “the vast majority of residents… recycle correctly” they are using a sledgehammer approach. This will only discourage recycling and increase landfill. I think a little bit of thought is needed on the council’s part. I have no doubt there is a problem but not emptying bins is not going to solve it.
We are regular recyclers and like many other residents were incensed at CCBC’s latest approach.
Yes everybody had the initial red sticker – warning not to place plastic bags in the recycling bin – but those residents who ignored this warning got a second red sticker informing them that their bin hadn’t been collected because the contents were contaminated.(There were several in my street ).
So how are we to solve the issue of passers by contaminating peoples recycling ?Not to mention the fact that some packaging could be more clearly labelled to avoid confusion.
Packaging manufacturers must also play their part in making packaging totally recyclable and with one clear symbol ( indicating it is recyclable) for all types of packaging.
I feel that this hasn’t been fully thought out………..and if all residents decide to take recycling to the civic amenity sites for landfill then the council will fail to hit its recycling targets and will face hefty fines
The several bins that CCBC refused to empty in my street are still sitting there looking sad and lonely on the pavement where residents left them on bin day last Monday, how long are these bins going to remain in this position with CCBC refusing to empty them.
CCBC employees will no doubt have been sent on many recycling coursers at great expense to the taxpayer and probably consider themselves to be experts in the subject, Joe Public however are not experts in the art of trying to distinguish which part of their food packaging can and can not be recycled.
and those hefty fines will be past on to the resident in the form of larger council tax bills. come on people, yes the council were stupid in the way they went about taking the action they did but it seems we were incurring costs that could have been prevented which would end up on our council tax bill. what is a cost to them ends up a cost to us
I agree that if thats what does happen then it is the residents who will eventually be lumbered with the bill via their council tax and nobody wants that.
More thought must be put into making recycling more straightforward ( ie: manufacturers using packaging that is 100% recyclable and having just one single recyclable logo for all packaging that can be recycled ).
And for the passers by who decide to deposit their waste in other peoples bins – thats better than littering , but if its not recyclable put it in the green bin,or if you can put it in a public litter bin.
On Tuesday, I watched the boy come and check my bin, he took a box out of it which was spotless and dropped it on the pavement. He then emptied my bin with no sticker or communication and he left the empty box on the pavement!!! Wait until next week. I will be pulling him to one side to ask what he’s playing at. Theres a fine for littering !!!!
I have seen green bins which are full but have black bags on top of the lid, left out on bin day. I have then watched binmen take the bags off, empty the bin and then leave the black bags on the pavement. Where is the sense in that!
I’ve replied to you in the other thread but the Observer are moderating my posts.
Thanks Pete, nothing new there!
This is just a money making scheme by Caerphilly council,they are saying that over the last few months that recycling is being mixed up with regular rubbish. Its funny that every other council are recycling at the kerb Newport, Monmouth and Torfean all has new vehicles.while at my sons in Newport they have storage for plastic, glass etc we just put it all in one bin. We haven’t we got this system maybe it would help increase recycling levels.
I didn’t realise different recycling methods are used by these other councils – so why are Caerphilly different ?
It would help if all councils in England & Wales used the same system ( we could then also accurately compare recycling rates between councils – perhaps this is why Caerphilly choose to use a different system to other councils ? or am I being cynical ? )
It would also help if all manufacturers adopted one logo for all types of packaging – this would avoid any confusion as to what can or cannot be recycled.
Used to work with a chap who complained his neighbors recycling bin wasn’t emptied because the owner had put nappy in the bin. He claimed it was disgusting to target a single mother just trying to make ends meet.
Does the fact that she’s a single mother prevent her from working out which bin is which, I asked? No, was the answer. Well what’s your point I asked?
People abuse the system and couldn’t give two hoots about it. They should be the main focus of your dissatisfaction.
Conversely, ccbc need to get a grip of themselves and their contractors. I use plastic bags to store my recycling neatly in a cupboard in my SMALL kitchen in order to keep everything convenient for myself. I then put the bags in the recycling bin. If ccbc don’t like this perhaps they should look up the word ‘service’ and work out how to provide it.
It’s give and take form provider and recipient.
The one topic that hasn’t been mentioned here yet is – are the council doing this to stop contaminated loads and to improve recycling rates ? or will we eventually find that residents who contaminate their recycling get a knock on the door and a fine ? –
It’s funny how this has been introduced now when the council will be facing cuts next year – so is this going to end up as another cash cow scheme by the council ?
Possibly.
The question is what is contaminated and what is reasonable?