Pensioners furious about new recycling rules and uncollected bins after 'decades without a problem'

Wolverhampton Council's new policy sees bin collectors reject household waste if the resident has not followed the correct rules to ensure a better quality of recycled waste.

This has led to thousands of homes' refuse not being collected and angry residents confused about which bits of waste should be washed before being binned.

Ken Wilkes was inundated with support when he vented his frustration online.

He said: "The bin police tagged me too. Are bleach bottles, marked 'recyclable', and food trays criminal waste or not?

"I tried to ring the council, but I was cut off. It feels wrong to be punished when they didn't try to educate us nor inform us of their particular requirements beforehand. We are 74 years old, not particularly computer-savvy and certainly struggle with wheeling waste up and down our long drive."

Shanta Patel agreed with Ken's annoyance.

She said: "In a similar situation after living at present address 30 years, council would drop and collect bins only from long drive.

"If you ring council they have a marker so bins collected and dropped off where you say given age etc."

Vanessa Edge is confused about the new rules and believes it will lead to less recycling.

She said: "I am really not sure what game this council is playing! The world wants us to recycle and become more sustainable but the council appear to be trying to make it so difficult to do!

"On top of that why print thousands of silly yellow tickets offering people no information which according to the new list aren't recycled? Seriously they need to get a grip and start spending our council tax on useful good quality services for us the tax paying residents instead of being jobsworths causing other problems."

There are also fears the thousands of uncollected bins will attract rats, which are already a problem in Wolverhampton.

Vanessa added: "I suppose stupid amounts of money will need to be spent in the summer to control the rat population."

Nicky T was shocked to see how many bins went uncollected due to the new rules.

She said: "Most bins in my street got tagged and not emptied last week, when did all these changes take place? When were we told? Nothing really to put in black bin anymore. Too much stress on a busy household."

Peter Mayhew believes forcing residents to spend money on hot water to wash up rubbish is unfair.

He said: "All food waste containers, be rinsed out before recycling. This means that, for burnt-on food or an something like an aluminium container, you would need to wash them in hot water, which currently costs more than the money collected on what you are recycling, so it's your choice."

Pensioners who are not tech-savvy also complained they should not need to go online to find out how to throw their refuse away. Residents with online access can learn about the rules on the council website wolverhampton.gov.uk/check-it.

The Conservative group on Wolverhampton Council claims 12,276 bins were rejected over a two-and-a-half-week period, averaging 750 bins a day being refused, accounting for 9.6 per cent of total bin collections.

However, Councillor Craig Collingswood, cabinet member for environment and climate change at Wolverhampton Council, claims the new rules are working.

He said: “Our ‘Check before you chuck’ campaign has already made a big difference to recycling in Wolverhampton, with contamination rates falling from 24 per cent to 18 per cent.

“The improvement in the quality of recycling is resulting in financial savings for residents and having a positive impact on the local environment. Bin contamination costs the public purse £185,000 a year – money that could be better spent on other services.

“We want to say thanks to our residents for their support, with more than nine out of 10 households doing their bit to ‘recycle right’.

"Our campaign began in December with information stickers placed on household recycling bins, tips on the council’s social media channels and visits made by the council’s waste team to community meetings."

Councillor Collingswood defended the council's strategy to inform people in the city about the changes.

He said: "The campaign was reported in the news and adverts were placed on the Express & Star’s website and in the Chronicle Week newspaper, on local radio, billboards and electronic road signs. Posters and leaflets were put in public and community venues with information in council and community newsletters, visits were made by the waste services team to public meetings and much more.

"City councillors and MPs have been regularly updated since December about the plans. We are pleased that residents are doing their bit to recycle better for their city."