Bigger wheelie bins on cards in Preston as recycling increases

The city council is expected to agree to up the size of its bins by a third after complaints from residents that the current ones are too small.

And the authority is looking to bring in a sticker system to identify which bins belong to which house.

The changes are up for debate at the full council meeting next Thursday, where members will also be asked to approve an increase in the charge of four-wheeled trade bins from £16 to £125.

The review will be the first in the city since 2012 and takes into account the changes in rubbish and recycling collection over the past 10 years.

At present the standard size of Preston' s recycling bins is 180 litres. The plan is to increase that to 240 litres to bring it into line with neighbouring authorities like South Ribble.

The council is being advised to introduce the bigger containers on a phased basis, providing them only when residents require a new or replacement bin. The existing 180 litre ones will be retained for those who only need a smaller bin, particularly people living alone.

"There is no intention to replace bins wholesale across any area of Preston," says a report to be presented to the council meeting by the director of communities and environment.

"Since the introduction of the current wheeled bin recycling system in 2012, a significant number of requests have been received from residents for larger recycling bins.

"The need for some larger bins was anticipated. The Government has recently signalled its intention to require local authorities to collect a wider range of materials for recycling.

"The combination of an increased desire for bigger recycling bins, the requirement for more recycling capacity and the potential for additional materials to be collected in future has led to the need to change the standard size of recycling wheeled bins.

"In future a resident requesting a new or replacement bin will receive a 240 litre bin as standard rather than a 180 litre bin."

The council is looking to spend £10,000 a year on providing stickers to make sure the new bins do not get mixed up between addresses.

The report says: "Since the introduction of wheeled bins into Preston, residents have been asked to mark their bins with identifying features such as their house number to reduce instances of theft. Many residents do this, however most do not.

"The lack of any identifying markers can lead to several issues such as bins being taken by the wrong property (either deliberately or in error), crews returning bins to the wrong property, and contaminated bins being linked to the wrong property.

"In order to provide a suitable means of marking bins, it is proposed to provide stickers in a similar way to the permit used to identify those bins for which a garden waste subscription has been paid.

"Once a (new) bin or bins has been requested for delivery, a sticker or set of stickers will be sent to the delivery address for the resident to apply to the bins when they arrive."

Explaining the move to up the charge for four-wheeled bins from £16 to £125, the report says that the trade containers cost the council between £200 and £300 each. The new charge would be aimed at covering the delivery cost, administration costs and as a contribution towards the purchase cost.

"The council currently supplies around 20 bins per annum, although it is possible these numbers will increase in future years due to the significant development taking place in Preston.

"It is suggested that a fee of £125 per bin be charged, bringing in income to the Council of around £2,200 per annum."

The proposed policy will also bring some relief to householders whose wheelie bons have been subjected to repeated arson attacks over a short period. In future they could be exempt from replacement charges.