'Incompetent idiots', 'shambles', 'joke' - Blackburn and Darwen residents react to recycling bin saga

On Tuesday, we published a story about residents in Darwen who were confused and angry after bin men left 'contaminated' stickers on their grey recycling bins and left others full to bursting.

But it wasn't just Darreners who felt the brunt of the council's refusal to empty their bins (meaning they have to wait another three weeks before they can be collected); people in Blackburn have also been affected, with many saying there's too much confusion with the new system.

Tiger Patel who lives in St Thomas Street was so fed up that he made a video demanding local councillors take action over the recycling bins that have not been emptied in his street.

He said: "People are fed up, after four weeks they are coming here and they don't pick up the bins. So councillors, come here please and sort out this issue."

Samiya, who lives in Revidge said: "More and more people will be recycling less now.

"Because of the blue bin there is too much confusion so to make it easy they will just put it in the burgundy bin.

"The so called clever council doesn’t realise that by introducing the blue bin they have in fact reduced the amount of recycling people used to do because now everyone is just throwing it all in the burgundy bin because they are just not sure what can go in the blue bin or the grey bin.

"For example a biscuit pack the plastic inside should go in grey bin and the box should go in blue but who is actually going to separate that, children are just going to throw it in the waste bin.

"It’s just sheer shambles."

READ: Anger in Darwen as 'contaminated' bins left unemptied by council

While Sajid from Pleckgate said at least 20 bins were not collected on his Rhodes Avenue estate, exclaiming: "Apparently they had something in it that shouldn’t be there.... really?

"We have waited a month for this day and my bin has been checked. It's not good."

Others were left seething after the council told them they had the wrong items in their bins, while many said they had been astounded at being told their bin was 'contaminated' one week, but emptied when put out for collection three weeks later.

Asif from Lammack said: "I phoned up the council and they said the binmen left a note saying I had carrier bags in the bin.

"There isn't a single carrier bag in there.

"She also said I couldn't put plastic packaging in there, i.e. Muller yoghurt packaging. Are they for real?"

One Facebook user said: "Those red contaminated labels state you can pay £7.50 for them to start a fresh and come back and empty your bins if it's not emptied.

"My bin wasn't emptied and a label was stuck on it. I rang the council and emailed a photo of my bin and they told me to pay the £7.50.

"I refused and put the same bin out several weeks later and it was taken and emptied.

"I did nothing different and kept the same rubbish in it.

"I don't understand how one week its not emptied and then a few weeks later with the same rubbish in it is emptied.

"I'm glad I didn't pay the £7.50, it almost feels like it's another way for them to make money."

Another added: "There was loads where we live off Redearth Road that weren’t emptied but there was absolutely nothing wrong with them.

"I put mine out again the next collection date and it was emptied even though I had done nothing to it?

"Sure the bin men are just having an ‘off’ period."

While another social media user said: "I'm careful with ours, but they've left it a couple of times with labels on as someone else had topped our bin up with their rubbish,"

Many tax-payers within the borough have also been left frustrated with the council's advice over which items can be placed in which bin.

Imran, who lives in Lammack said: "Council officers just do not know the parameters of the recycling scheme and simply suggest that any items of uncertainty are placed in the burgundy bin.

"Surely this undermines the whole recycling scheme for which residents are charged a fortune via increased council tax rates year upon year.

"The council would do well to use some of these funds to address the horrendous fly-tipping issue we have in Blackburn, instead of doomed to fail, unrequited schemes such as the newly introduced separate paper collection bin."

With others stating: "Yes, incompetent idiots, this will cause further problems, fly-tipping, people dumping in other people's bins, crazy how many bins did not get emptied last week."

While another resident commented: "It isn't as though recyclables don't get sorted after collection.

"One or two incorrect items should not mean the bin does not get collected.

"Cllr Jim Smith is a stubborn waste of space."

The introduction of the new blue bin for paper and cardboard has definitely divided opinion across the borough, but council bosses have stated the shake-up was necessary in order to meet recycling targets set by the government.

On Tuesday, Cllr Jim Smith, Blackburn with Darwen's environmental services boss said that sorting recycling wasn't 'rocket science' and people needed to pay more attention to what they were putting in their bins.

He also claimed that if a bin had a contaminated item at the top, it was likely to be contaminated throughout.

However, too many residents say they are being left with full bins for weeks at a time, and are blaming the bin men for being lazy, with one residents saying: "Disgusting. My bin didn't get emptied and a neighbour said she watched the bin men not even open the bins but just put them labels on them all."

While another added: "Mine didn't get emptied and had a tag. I phoned the council, they came out and checked and found nothing wrong with it. Same with my neighbour."

And one person had even kept track of the amount of times the bin men had labelled their recycling as 'contaminated'.

They said: "Eight times this year so far we have had to ring, we are strict with what goes in our bin, we didn't even have a sticker on our bin either, they just didn't empty it. It's a joke."

The confusion and frustration doesn't appear to be subsiding, with many councillors from across the borough, including Cllrs Julie Slater and Roy Davies in Darwen saying there have been problems with recycling for months.

Despite this, many residents who have never had any issue believe the problems stem from a lack of information and education around recycling.

One Darwen resident stated: "Do people not read the information sent out?

"It clearly said when the last grey bin would be emptied before the changeover.

"I know the council aren't the greatest, but people should take responsibility for their own mistakes.

"That's what's wrong in this day and age - it's always someone else's fault."