by Ray George
There was a public meeting of the Southampton Federation of Residents’ Associations on 9th October. The meeting was on waste collection and recycling. A presentation and discussion was led by Jason Evans, the City Council’s Waste and Recycling Compliance Officer. From what I heard, we are paragons when it comes to wheelie bins. In areas with many houses in multiple occupation, the blue-lid recycling bins are frequently contaminated with the wrong things. And if the contaminated bin is then not emptied, the problem is compounded. In the Polygon, the Council even uses a Community Payback team to move the bins off the pavement after a collection. Up to now, the Council policy has been education, but a scheme of fixed penalty fines of £100 may be approved by the Council for repeated contamination of the recycling bin. The “Bin it to Win it.” scheme is underway with a chance to win something to a value greater than £30 for correct use of the recycling bin. Next year, we will get a plastic box for glass recycling.