Councillor facing calls to quit over 'too small' recycling bags

The new dual-stream recycling system was introduced to improve the quality of recycling and to cut down on the amount of contaminated waste.

The scheme’s roll-out began this month, but collection bags being delivered to households are a third smaller than originally anticipated when the scheme was announced.

Lichfield councillor Dave Robertson said: “It’s astonishing that this situation has been allowed to get this far.

“I was assured at a meeting on 17th March that the council had already taken delivery of these bags.

“That’s over a month ago and yet no-one was told of this very basic error until this week – that’s totally unacceptable.”

While the scheme is being administered as a joint service across Lichfield and Tamworth, it is being led by Lichfield District Council.

Tory councillor Ashley Yeates, cabinet member for recycling at Lichfield District Council said: “We are disappointed that the blue bags we have received from our supplier do not meet our expectations and we are investigating this issue.”

However, Councillor Yeates is now facing calls to quit over the issue.

Independent councillor Joanne Grange said: “Households were already going to struggle to fit card and paper into something half the size of a blue bin, but will now have even less room to try to squash everything into.”

"The change to the recycling process has been poorly managed and communicated from the start – but to find out the new blue bags are more than 30 per cent smaller than they should be, yet they are still being distributed to households, is truly astonishing.”

Councillor Grange said councillors had not been given an explanation for the problem, and called on Councillor Yeates to quit.

She said: “Recycling and the response to the climate change emergency are really important issues that need competent leadership.

“This mistake with the blue bags and the absence of a climate change action plan more than two years after the council recognised the emergency show Councillor Yeates is not in control of his brief.”

Councillor Grange added: “Councillor Ashley Yeates, as the responsible cabinet member, has said that people should take excess recyclable material generated in the meantime to the household waste centre, but as the council’s response to the climate change emergency also falls under his remit it’s disappointing he hasn’t considered the impact of the unnecessary extra mileage people would need to drive to do this.

“Councillor Yeates needs to accept responsibility for this mess, and the inevitable extra costs that will be incurred in resolving the issue and step down from the cabinet.”

Residents have been warned that their blue bins will not be emptied if they contain paper or card, and blue bags will not be emptied if they contain anything other than paper and card.

Lichfield District Council said residents need to continue using the bags because every load is checked by a processing company and any that are not correctly separated will be rejected at a cost of more than £1,000 per vehicle.

The authority said in a statement: “Our bag delivery is part of a wider, cross council order and we are now working with our partner councils to understand the scale of the problem and to enter negotiations with our suppliers over the blue bags they have delivered.”

The changes are set to be introduced in a total of five districts across Staffordshire; Lichfield, Tamworth, Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire and South Staffordshire.