Environment

Exeter City Council has hit back at the national media for exaggerating its proposal to charge residents who put the wrong kinds of waste in its green recycling bins.

Mike Trim, head of the council's cleansing services, told Packaging News it accepted that mistakes would be made in recycling, but wanted to tackle the "few residents who continued to grossly contaminate their green bin".

"If a household is found to contaminate their bin, an education officer will visit them, two or three times, to encourage them to use it correctly. If they decide they don't want to, we will offer to charge them to clean it for them."

Local authorities have the right to charge for certain items if people could not comply with disposal, said Trim, adding that he expected the proposed scheme to charge around £10,  the same as the council charges to remove fridges.

"I don't expect we'd have to use the charges more than 20 times a year," he added.

Trim said it would then be easier for the council to prove that a household had not paid the charge, rather than prove who had contaminated the bin.

The proposals follow a court case against Donna Chalice, who allegedly put food and cigarettes in the recycling bin, but was exonerated as the council couldn't prove that she had put it there herself.

Several national papers, including The Daily Telegraph and Daily Express reported the Devon town was setting a fixed penalty notice to compensate the council for cleaning the bin.

The Conservative Party said that it was Labour's waste policies that had caused a "surge in fly tipping" and fuelled public resentment towards local officials. The Tories have said they prefer financial incentives to encourage people to recycle rather than punitive fines for failure to do so.

Cardboard, plastics, metal cans and foil packaging can be put in Exeter's green recycling bins, but the council will not accept glass, which should be taken to a recycling bank, or polystyrene.

In August London's Brent Council announced it was introducing a £1,000 fine for those households that did not recycle.