Council workers have outraged residents by slapping ‘tags of shame’ on their bins in what bosses say is a new initiative to ‘re-educate’ families about recycling.
The row over collections by South Kesteven Council in Lincolnshire has already been branded the ‘bingate’ scandal by leading Tory Michael Gove who demanded an official apology to locals over the fiasco.
People living in the area say the new multi-bin system is too complicated and claim they are running out of room in their gardens after being issued with three separate bins for different types of waste.
As well as the standard black wheelie bin for house-hold waste, households also have a purple bin reserved for paper and cardboard and a silver bin for plastic bottles, glass bottles and foil.
From the start of this week, residents who had failed to fill the two recycling bins with the correct contents were stunned to find bin crews had tied warning labels to their uncollected waste.
The scheme has caused uproar in the community and has been labelled as ‘petty’ by furious locals on social media.
Steve Hall, a resident in the South Kesteven district, said: ‘If your bin should be rejected, as mine was today through no fault of mine but a lovely passer by putting the wrong rubbish into my bin, then my recyclable items will now go in the black bin, thereby reducing the amount that is recycled and ensuring that the council don’t hit their recycling targets.
‘All it took was to lift out the paper bag of used food wrappings. You’d already opened the bin lid, so you were half way there. Too many jobsworths. What happened to a decent work ethic and common sense? I despair.’
Social media exploded with complaints about the tags with some residents threatening to boycott the recycling scheme entirely and just shove all their rubbish in the black bins.
Natalie Thompson posted on Facebook: ‘I got a tag of shame… for recycling carrier bags and white bin liners, which were full of recycling. The tag advised that bags were non-recyclable and not able to be processed. It is contradictory because the council give out bags you can buy for extra recycling.’
Paul Cassata joked: ‘They tagged our bin without even opening it – gotta get me some of the x-ray glasses they’ve kitted out the refuse collectors with!’
Claire Hadlow added: ‘I put my cardboard bin out for the first time the night before collection. Next day a tag appeared on it saying it was contaminated. Someone had dropped a disposable nappy on top of it. I’ve left it there and won’t use it again. It has been sat outside with two others – both tagged – for the last couple of months.’
The multi-bin system was first introduced at the start of February this year along with the tags to educate people about how to dispose of their waste correctly.
Statistics revealed that approximately 7,000 incorrectly-filled silver recycling bins were not collected in South Kesteven on February 19 and February 20.
This outraged residents and forced the council to start collecting the contaminated recycling bins, giving people extra time to adapt to the new scheme.
Four months later, the council’s deputy chief executive Richard Wyles warned residents that from Monday, June 10, these bins would not be emptied if they ‘contained non-recyclables’.
Mr Wyles said: ‘We thank everyone who has been carefully sorting their recycling; this co-operation is helping us get to a position where we can recycle as much as we possibly can from what is put in the bins.
‘We have been open and transparent in saying that silver bin collections from the week beginning Monday June 10, may be rejected if bins contained non-recyclables.’
According to the council, refuse workers rejected 6 per cent of recycling collections in the first two days of this week – for including items such as food, toys, plant pots, nappies or dog waste.
Paper and card, and soft plastics including bin bags, plastic carrier bags, clingfilm and crisp packets, are the most common items incorrectly left in the silver bin, the local authority added.
The council said it would also be ‘collecting bin data to understand what residents still find puzzling – and where it can help further’.
‘Anyone whose bin is tagged, or who has any waste or recycling questions that need answering, can talk to our staff. They are all well-briefed and have information leaflets available if required,’ Mr Wyles added.
Conservative MP Michael Gove, Secretary for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, weighed in on the bin debate back in February when he called for a formal apology to the residents whose bins were left overflowing.
‘South Kesteven District Council has had great Conservative representation in the past, but I am concerned about Ashley Baxter, the Independent leader, that the bingate scandal still hasn’t had an appropriate answer or apology,’ said Gove in a video shared on X.
Jonathan Eida, researcher of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, added: ‘Taxpayers are fed up with wasting their time sorting through rubbish.
‘While wanting to increase recycling may be a noble ambition, these increasingly complex rules and reduced collections risk punishing hard working households who make innocent mistakes.
‘Local authorities should focus on providing the services residents pay for, not petty bureaucracy that belongs in the bin.’