Councils across the country are cracking down on hardworking Brits for rubbish offences – including a woman fined £400 for putting cardboard in a Brighton bin.
Another man has been handed a £1,000 penalty for using the wrong rubbish bags in Essex – while homeowners in Bristol have 13 different bins to fill.
Punitive measures are being imposed nationwide on families dealing with household clutter – yet local authorities are also struggling to carry out their delivery duties.
A shop owner condemned Brighton and Hove City Council for their ‘heavy-handed approach’ when fined £400 for putting cardboard in a residential bin.
Fragrance store businesswoman Sarah Reason told how she ‘burst into tears’ when landed with the fixed penalty notice after tucking some cardboard and a paper bag into a recycling bin nearby.
Brighton businesswoman Sarah Reason was punished for putting cardboard into a wheelie bin
Mark Lovell is among residents who were left waiting for piles of rubbish to be cleared from outside their homes in Seagarth Lane, Southampton
Lesley Leadbeater is a Bristol local told to sort waste into 13 different containers
The 44-year-old entrepreneur’s name and shop address were found on a cardboard box in the bin by a council environment officer.
She described the clampdown as ‘complete and utter madness’ and ‘a very heavy-handed approach’, telling The Argus: ‘It’s totally disproportionate to any other fine.’
Brighton and Hove City Council said in response: ‘Businesses have a legal duty to ensure that any commercial waste relating to their business is disposed of legally through a waste management company.
‘Those who fail to do so are at risk of receiving fixed penalty notices for disposing of commercial waste illegally.
‘The body-worn video camera evidence we gathered in relation to this case shows a scenario that is significantly different to what has been portrayed.
‘We are satisfied that the fixed penalty notice in question has been issued correctly, in line with national legislation and our environmental enforcement framework.
‘We understand the current financial climate is hard for small businesses. With this in mind we review our fixed penalty notices on a case-by-case basis, and alternative payment options may be offered in certain circumstances.’
Meanwhile, along the South Coast, residents in Southampton have accused their council chiefs of leaving ‘mountains of rubbish’ to rot after being left uncollected.
Stephanie Johnson, from Chertsey, was fined for a cardboard sign put on a hedge by her car
Fragrance store owner Sarah Reason described her treatment as ‘complete and utter madness’ after being told to pay £400 for her offence
The 44-year-old entrepreneur runs a fragrance store in the South Coast city
Mark Lovell, 55, told how his home street has been targeted by fly-tippers.
He said: ‘Rats, seagulls and foxes are here all the time tearing through the rubbish – this mountain of junk has been here at least three weeks.’
Property firm Residential Management Group said the city council was meant to collect waste on Saturdays while the local authority blamed recent bank holidays for a backlog, the Southern Daily Echo reported.
The council insisted workers would ‘prioritise Seagarth Lane and it will be cleared this week’.
Elsewhere, in Essex, a homeowner was handed a £1,000 fine for driving across the borough of Basildon to get rid of pink and black sacks.
He dumped them in communal bins despite local authority rules stipulating separate places for non-recyclable items, cans and plastic, paper and cardboard, glass, food waste and garden waste.
Conservative councillor Craig Rimmer backed the crackdown, the local Echo reported.
He said: ‘There is a small minority of people who are deliberately doing the wrong thing – it is a form of flytipping.
Clutter has been collecting in Brighton, where local store owner Sarah Reason was fined £400 for putting cardboard into a residential bin
Residents of Caledonia Place in Clifton, Bristol, have been told to separate their rubbish into 13 different bags, boxes and containers – though say it makes their street an ‘eyesore’
‘I think enforcement action is the way for those people who drive across town, people who know the rules, and continue to leave and throw out the sacks.
‘I know some people are still getting used to it, and those people we will educate – but there are people who are deliberately doing it and it is unacceptable.’
And Stephanie Johnson, from Chertsey in Surrey, found a £100 fine on her windscreen when a cardboard sign was put in a hedge after she parked her car.
She told SurreyLive: ‘It was a bit of cardboard on the hedge that wasn’t there when I went in.’
A court ultimately ruled she was unfairly punished and rescinded the penalty.
People in Bristol say they have been told to sort rubbish into 13 different bins.
The smart Caledonia Place in the south-west city is filled each Thursday morning with containers awaiting emptying by waste collectors, Mail Online revealed.
Residents have been told to separate their general household waste, cardboard, plastic, tins and glass, food and garden waste – but also now clothing, shoes and spent batteries.
Mountains of rubbish developed in Brighton car parks after the festive break
Bristol’s Caledonia Place can be littered with waste ahead of Thursday morning binmen rounds
Bristol City Council leads household waste tables in the UK by recycling 46 per cent of its collections, above a national average of 44.1 per cent.
One local, 86-year-old Marion Westwood, 86, said of the 13 bins: ‘It’s ridiculous – where’s it going to end?’
Yet she added: ‘We are very good, our rubbish goes in all the right containers and I take some to a recycling skip at the church – 13 is a lot, but I suppose we will get used to it.’
Retired TV producer Anne Farrell said: ‘I feel for the binmen – they should be paid more than bankers as far as I’m concerned.’
Tax adviser Josh Greenhaf, 26, said: ‘I’m in agreement with what the council is doing – it’s simple enough to separate out your rubbish, we’ve all got used to it.’
But NHS Clinical services manager Lesley Leadbeater, 63, said: ‘It’s become an eyesore every week – it can look a real mess and blights the area.’
Bristol City Council leads in Britain by recycling 46 per cent of its household waste, above a national average of 44.1 per cent.
Bristol Waste Company, which runs local services, has now told Mail Online: ‘In response to recent confusion about the number of bins residents put out in Bristol, we would like to clarify that in total we offer Bristol residents 5 bins and 2 optional containers.
‘Like most Bristol households, residents of Caledonian Place have four recycling containers and one general waste wheelie bin.
Mother-of-two Jane Pearce was fined after sweeping outside her north London home and in an elderly neighbour’s garden before putting a bag of rubbish in a wheelie bin across the road
Residents have raised concerns about uncollected waste in Seagarth Lane, Southampton
‘They can also order a small kitchen caddy to put their food waste in before taking it outside and some households subscribe to garden waste collections.
‘In these bins and boxes, residents can recycle a wide range of materials every week – helping us stay the top core city in England for recycling.
‘Residents who live in flats may have a mini recycling centre or shared bins instead of kerbside collections.’
Elsewhere, private enforcement agents are now using ‘aggressive’ tactics to slap good Samaritans with massive fines for fly-tipping – even penalising OAPs for litter-picking, the Daily Mail revealed last year.
Victims have included Jane Pearce, who litter-picked her street in Camden, north London, but was given a £400 penalty after depositing the rubbish in a wheelie bin.
The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs has said: ‘Fines should never be used as a means to raise revenue.’
Meanwhile, people in Labour-run Cardiff have been warned their bin bag collections could be reduced to just once every three weeks amid a budget crisis.
Budget chiefs there admitted ‘services people rely on or expect to receive will have to change or go’, as they blamed funding cuts from Wales’s Labour government.
Bin bags have been left outside in London and neighbouring Essex, awaiting collection
Mike Barton is among the Bristol residents complaining about having to use 13 different containers ahead of their household waste being collected each Thursday morning
Rubbish has also been left to linger on the Gascoigne estate in Barking, east London
Government plans that would force households to sort waste into up to seven separate bins were delayed earlier this year.
The scheme would have made people put rubbish into an array of different containers to stop cross-contamination before it was taken to recycling centres.
Meanwhile, ministers have promised to end a ‘postcode lottery’ of household recycling with new simplified rules.
Yet pet experts have warned a cutdown in bin collections has encouraged rodent infestations – hitting families returning home after Christmas breaks.