Council's 'petty tags of shame' on families' bins for getting their bins wrong (2024)

A local council has riled up some of its residents by putting ‘tags of shame’ on the bins of households who fill them with the wrong refuse.

Officials at South Kesteven Council, in Lincolnshire, say the new initiative is intended to ‘re-educate’ families about recycling.

But locals claim a new multi-bin system is too complicated, complaining they’ve run out of room in their gardens since three separate waste bins were issued.

Alongside a standard black bin for household waste, they now have a purple bin for paper and cardboard, and a silver bin for plastic bottles, glass bottles and foil.

This week though, residents started waking up to uncollected bins with warning labels tied to them if they hadn’t filled the recycling bins with the correct waste.

The scheme was initially introduced in February, with roughly 7,000 incorrectly-filled silver bins going uncollected on February 19 and February 20 alone.

South Kesteven had 62,850 separate households at the 2021 Census.

It’s been described as ‘petty’ by locals taking to social media to vent their frustration.

Some claim it was not even their fault.

One resident, Steve Hall, 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.’

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.’

South Kesteven Council had backtracked on a decision to leave incorrectly-filled bins uncollected after backlash when the scheme was first introduced.

But the council deputy chief executive, Richard Wyles, has this month wanred residents that their bins will not be emptied if their contained ‘non-recyclables’.

He 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.’

Bin collectors rejected 6% of recycling bins in the first two days of this week, according to the council.

Offending items included food, toys, plant pots, nappies and dog waste.

Among the most common items wrongly put in silver bins are paper and card, and soft plastics like bin bags, plastic carrier bags, clingfilm and crisp packets.

Responding to reported confusion of the new multi-bin scheme, the council claimed it is ‘collecting bin data to understand what residents still find puzzling – and where it can help further’.

Mr Wyles said: ‘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.’

Conservative MP Michael Gove, the outgoing Secretary for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, demanded the council apologise to residents left with overflowing bins when the scheme was introduced in February.

He said: ‘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.’

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.’

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