Stratford District Council to get tough on those trying to sidestep the new green waste bin charge

That was the message from Cllr Ian Shenton (Con Wootton Wawen), Stratford District Council’s portfolio holder for operations.

And he warned that the council would be getting tough on those trying to sidestep the new £40 charge for green waste by putting their garden rubbish in one of their other bins.

“We do have the ability to use the three strikes and out rule,” Cllr Shenton explained at this week’s [WED] meeting of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee.

“We are going to get a lot tighter on this and will be looking closely at what’s in the bins going forward. If it’s right down the bottom it is going to be a problem but at some point you are going to make a mistake and put something at the top.

“Genuine mistakes are one thing but persistent behaviour won’t be tolerated and we will enforce the three strikes - after that we will only pick up the bin if it has been emptied and refilled correctly with the stuff that should have been in the blue or green bin taken out.

“We are never going to stop people putting things in the wrong bin but we need to get the message out there that we are not going to tolerate contamination. We have to get more aggressive about this.

“Binmen have what they call a ‘rattle test’ to detect certain things when they shake the bin. They can tell by the sound that comes back whether that bin has large quantities of stuff in there that shouldn’t be.”

He added that in the future video cameras will be used so that drivers will be able to see what is going into the truck.

The new charge for collecting green waste will be introduced in June and Cllr Shenton admitted that the system would see a fall in the amount that was collected. He explained that when residents opt-in for the collections, a bin sticker will be sent out so that only eligible bins - or 120-litre reusable sacks - are collected.