UK NEWS

‘COUNCIL CASH FOR TOY BINS IS JUST A WASTE’

Renfrewshire Council is just days away from cutting weekly waste runs and focus on recycling.

Tuesday November 3,2009

By Brian Swanson

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CAMPAIGNERS reacted with fury yesterday after a council spent thousands of pounds on mini wheelie bins to promote controversial fortnightly rubbish collections.

Renfrewshire Council is just days away from joining the growing number of local authorities to cut weekly waste runs and focus on recycling.

As part of the drive, bureaucrats ordered 1,500 five-inch replicas of their new blue bins to hand out to schoolchildren and householders.

Officials also hope councillors on the Scottish National Party/Lib Dem coalition authority will use the miniatures, which cost a total of £2,295, as a desk tidy at their HQ.

But critics yesterday denounced the move as a waste of taxpayers’ money. Mark Wallace, of Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “It is an expensive distraction from the council’s key job of delivering services. Effectively, several families have just seen their year’s council tax spent on toy bins.

“It’s frustrating for people struggling to make ends meet in a recession to see the council being so cavalier with their money.”

Labour member Jim Sharkey, one of several councillors given a replica during a presentation by officials said: “It has a little ruler and pencil sharpener on it and it’s supposed to fit on your desk.

“I wanted to hear why slashing bin collections was a good idea. I didn’t want a toy.”

The scheme is the latest example of councils trying to convince taxpayers of the dubious benefits of fortnightly collections.

Renfrewshire Council defended the bin promotion.

A spokesman said: “This is a small part of the strategy, which included a programme of recycling information.”