A mum-of-two was left confused when she was threatened with a £75 fine for leaving the lid of her bin slightly ajar.
Famy Meyzineva, from Connah’s Quay, said she left the bin lid just “5cm to 6cm” ajar, with no extra bags left beside it, adding that this was normally how she put out her rubbish and it was "like how everyone else on the street leaves their bins".
However refuse collectors from Flintshire Council warned her she would be handed the fixed penalty notice if her bin was found to have "side waste" on another occasion, NorthWalesLive reported.
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Mrs Meyzineva, who has a nine-month-old son and two-year-old daughter, said her bin was only full because the council had failed to supply her with a separate 'nappy box' which she had applied for in October.
"We have four people in my family, with two babies still in nappies, so I fill my bin very quickly," she said. "I recycle everything, even plastic bread bags.
“I applied for a bin for nappies but I’ve still not heard anything from the council.”
Flintshire Council re-introduced its side waste enforcement of kerbside waste collections last September in a move designed to encourage recycling.
The policy is aimed at serial offenders who “continually leave extra bags of rubbish out for collection alongside the normal wheelie bins” but some householders have claimed it is leading to confusion, frustration, and even a spike in fly-tipping.
Enforcement was suspended at the start of the Covid pandemic and, in the following 18 months before it resumed, an extra 3,000 tonnes of landfill waste was collected from homes, compromising the council’s attempts to hit Welsh Government recycling targets.
Council chiefs said fixed penalty notices are issued only as a last resort after residents have received a warning followed by a Section 46 notice of intent to take action. Currently just two penalties have been handed out across Flintshire.
The council have clarified the definition of “side waste” as “additional bags or items of waste placed out for collection not presented in the correct containers provided by the authority".
A spokesman added: “Additional bags or items that are next to the wheelie bin, or wheelie bins that are overflowing and the lid cannot fully close, will not be collected.”
Taking to Facebook to air her concerns, Mrs Meyzineva was met with a response from other residents who had also received warnings because they misunderstood the meaning of “side waste”.
One person said: “I called them up going mad because I thought side waste was rubbish from the side of the bin but it’s not". Another replied: “Are you kidding me? If the lid is slightly open they will not take it?”
A third added: “I also had one as the lid was an inch short of closing. Bet the Sticker Fairy had a busy day!”
Some also claimed that people are circumventing the rules by dumping surplus rubbish in their neighbours’ bins while others said that the council's policy is actually driving up carbon emissions as residents are making more trips to recycling centres to dispose of waste that won't fit into black bins.
However a few argued that householders have a collective duty to reduce landfill by increasing their own recycling and that black bins should be able to accommodate the non-recyclable waste generated by most families.
A council spokesman apologised to Mrs Meyzineva and husband Asin for the delays in providing them with a nappy bin and added: “Due to the popularity of this service there has been a delay in deliveries which is out of our control and for which we apologise.
“We hope to be able to deliver this service to them as soon as we are able.”
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