£1.5 million cost to taxpayers in Rotherham of "the wrong rubbish"

ITEMS placed in the wrong bins cost the borough’s taxpayers £1.5 million in 2021/22 — more than double the previous year, the Advertiser can reveal.

Some 7,719 tonnes of recyclables were thrown away in the general waste pink lid bin instead — running up an estimated bill of £1,239,596 for Rotherham Council.

In addition, more than 5,000 tonnes of waste was wrongly put into black or green bins for the 12 months to the end of March, RMBC figures show.

This added up to a cost of £291,386 — actually a slight improvement on the £303,417 bill from 2020/21. But it still showed 23 per cent of everything put in black bins should have gone elsewhere.

Items placed in the wrong bins not only has an impact on the planet but costs the borough cash which could have gone on other services.

An RMBC spokesperson said: “An increase of items placed into the incorrect bins takes time to correct and costs money for our partners to prepare the materials to sell on to manufacturers. The council is charged for any contaminated waste collections.

“The contents of recycling bins need to be pure in order to be used safely so they can be recycled to make new glass, plastic, aluminium and paper products.

“We encourage residents to make sure they are not putting any recyclables into the pink lidded bin.”

A major contributor to contamination has been unsuitable plastic being thrown into the black bin, for example shower curtains, paddling pools, hose pipes, and toys.

The total estimated cost of errors across all the bins was £1,530,982 in 2021/22 — up from £702,856 the previous year.

Cllr Dominic Beck, cabinet member for transport and environment, said: “Recycling and ensuring all items are placed into the correct bins is one of the very small and simple steps we take to protect our home, the planet.

“Through Rotherham’s recycling collections residents are able to dispose of a variety of materials which we view as ‘waste’ to be recycled.

“We appreciate the effort that so many of our residents put in to help us make the best use of natural resources through reusing, recycling correctly and reducing their plastic waste.

“I encourage everyone to check out the council’s website recycling page to educate ourselves and make sure unwanted items are recycled in the most efficient way possible.”

Visit www.rotherham.gov.uk/homepage/40/a-to-z-of-waste for RMBC’s full details of what goes in each bin.