Recycle bin blue tags for wrong items axed

RESIDENTS in Redcar and Cleveland will no longer have their recycling bins tagged should they put the wrong items into them.

- By STUART ARNOLD Local democracy reporter

The council began trials in some areas in 2023 with a view to reducing costly contamination from bin loads and also improving the borough's abysmal recycling rates.

But council leader Alec Brown said the tagging scheme, which he described as a “short sharp shock’ had been halted.

This was despite recycling rates having gone up by 7% in the trial areas and the council having made an estimated cost saving of £350,000 over a 12-month period, albeit set against the additional staff hours involved.

The trials, which began in Normanby and were extended into Redcar and Brotton, saw blue bins checked for the likes of food waste, nappies and takeaway boxes ahead of collections.

If the wrong items were found bins were not emptied and tagged with an explanation why before a followup visit was scheduled with the offending household told what items were required to be removed.