Council warning over bags in recycling bins

About 60,000 households in East Yorkshire will receive warnings from next week if they put plastic bags in their blue recycling bins.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council is introducing a bin tagging scheme in Beverley, Haltemprice, Brough, Cottingham and South Cave.

If collection crews find any recyclable waste in plastic bags in blue bins, they will place orange tags on the bins stating "plastic bags of any colour are not accepted in blue bins".

The council said, on the following collection days, any blue bins found to still include plastic bags would not be emptied.

The council is introducing the scheme in stages across East Yorkshire throughout this year. It is already in operation in Bridlington, Driffield, Hornsea, Withernsea and Hedon.

The authority said it had to introduce the scheme because recycling placed inside plastic bags was becoming a "growing issue" and causes "major problems" in the recycling process.

The bags cannot be opened at recycling plants, the waste inside cannot be separated or recycled and bin crews cannot check to ensure the correct items are inside bins before they are emptied.

Carl Skelton, director of streetscene services at East Riding of Yorkshire Council said: “The use of plastic bags in blue bins is a problem we need to fix, and we’re asking our residents to help us.

“It’s very important to keep items loose in blue bins so we can make sure as much waste gets recycled as possible."

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