Residents warned over brown bin rubbish

Brown bins in the borough are used to collect garden waste, such as grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, leaves, bark, twigs and small branches, and flowers, while they can also be used to dispose of clean and empty cardboard.

The contents are then used as soil improver by farms, businesses, parks and open spaces.

But now North East Lincolnshire Council is informing residents the bins will not be collected if the material is “contaminated” by other items after several lorry loads had to be dumped.

Coun Alex Wallace, portfolio holder for environment and housing, said tins of paint and nappies were among the items causing offence, and that contaminated loads were expensive as they to be disposed of at landfill sites or burned, while also spoiling the recycling efforts of other residents.

He said: “Recently we have found that some people have been disposing of items such as tetra pack containers, plastic or polystyrene packaging from inside cardboard boxes, general household waste, clothes, cans of paint and nappies in their brown bins, but unfortunately these items cannot be collected along with the garden waste.

“If items such as these are found in the brown bin collections then the whole vehicle load has to be sent to a landfill site or the energy from waste plant and incinerated as it can’t be used as soil improver.

“This is more expensive for the council and a waste of the resources collected by others.”

The bins will now be checked by council refuse collectors before they are taken away and householders who fail to comply will be left a card asking for the items to be removed.

Residents will then have call the council’s waste hotline on (01472) 325841 to arrange an alternative collection date.