Council refuses to empty garden waste bin - because there’s soil in it

Leeds Council told Craige Timmins he had “broken the rules” and must clean out his brown wheelie bin himself – even threatening to confiscate it.

But Mr Timmins, an engineering boss who lives in Garforth, said the only soil he had put in the bin had been attached to weeds pulled from his back garden.

He reported the situation to the Local Government Ombudsman who suggested he may be able to claim compensation for being forced to take his garden waste to his nearest collection site.

Mr Timmins, 30, finally he received a letter from the council last December apologising for “over-zealous” staff and assuring him him his fortnightly garden waste collection would be reinstated.

But five months on, the part-composted contents, which have remained in the bin at the bottom of his drive for an entire year, have still not been collected.

Mr Timmins said: “I want the brown bin service back to what it should be, and get what I pay for through my rates.

“The Ombudsman suggested that what I have taken to the tip over the years has been at my own cost and in my own time and I might want to get compensation for that.

“But this is now just about the principal of the matter. One letter said that I had to take what was in (the brown bin) out or they would take my bin off me.

“It was worded very cleverly so it didn’t appear threatening, but it was. They basically said if I keep breaking the rules they will take the bin away.

“But they were being pedantic over the amount of soil on the weeds’ roots.”

A Leeds City Council spokesman apologised, saying the council was “keen” for residents to compost and added that the brown bin would be emptied by the end of the week.

Brown bins are used to collect grass cuttings, hedge clippings, leaves, dead plants, windfall fruit, weeds, twigs and small branches for composting.