Residents of Windermere Road, Fulwood, Preston, have been placing their boxes out by the kerbside – but find they can go uncollected if the wrong lid is on top.

Preston Council waste bosses say one wagon deals with yellow-lidded boxes and another team with the red-topped ones – and it is inevitable some recyling can be missed if the correct lid isn't used.

Housewife Beverley Philpott, 48, said it was "petty" not to empty the boxes if the contents were correctly sorted and only the lid was wrong.
She said: "They have to take the lid off anyway to see what's inside.

"I've told them I'm going to forget about recycling altogether."
Neighbours claim binmen do not always return the lids to the correct houses and that gusts of wind can blow them away.

Sandra Abbott, 53, said: "It's pathetic. You pay over £1,000 in council tax and they won't take the box just because of the lid.

"I'm disabled and it's hard enough getting the boxes out to the kerb."
Residents have raised the problem with Preston North East county councillor Michael Welsh.

Mr Welsh said following the colour-coded system would help speed up collection but he understood why residents got frustrated.

He said: "As they pointed out, since binmen have to take the lid off to see what's inside, there should be no difficulty in emptying the bin in the right place, even if it has the wrong coloured lid."

A council spokesman said: "Our red and yellow lidded recycling boxes are colour coded because the recycling is collected by two separate crews.

"Occasionally, people do place items in the wrong boxes and if our crews realise this has been done, they will still collect the recycling.

"However, on some occasions, particularly where a house has several boxes, some recycling could be missed if it is placed in the container with the wrong coloured lid, as crews cannot check every box.

"People can find out more about how to use Preston's household recycling scheme by visiting the council's website or calling the recycling helpline."

Recycling information is available via the council's website at www.preston.gov.uk/environmentandplanning or by calling the recycling hotline 01772 906905.

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