Luton Borough Council (LBC) is considering implementing a compulsory recycling system that would see education or enforcement officers visit and potentially fine residents who fail to recycle their household waste.

Councillors are proposing the change following the announcement in November that the council had recorded 4,273 fly-tipping incidents in 2014/15, a significant increase on the 3,262 recorded in 2013/14.

In response to the announcement, David Franks, the leader of the Labour-run council’s Liberal Democrats, told Luton on Sunday that cuts of nearly £1 million to the town’s street cleaning department are to blame for its supposed bad state, and has since added that a £25 charge for the disposal of bulky waste at household waste recycling centres has added to the problem.

Earlier today (7 January), Cllr Tom Shaw, LBC’s housing and environment portfolio holder told the Luton News that as part of a review the council is now considering “compulsory recycling instead of cuts to cleansing” as one of several proposals to combat the litter problem.

Proposals to recruit and empower officers to visit addresses and serve fines to those dumping waste onto the street, and to enlarge the size of green recycling bins given to residents are also under review.

High turnover of residents part of problem

Deputy Leader of LBC Sian Timoney told the Luton News: “We are conducting a waste review and as part of that we are looking at how we can increase the amount of recycling, as the amount of money it costs to send waste to landfills is really high.

“Enforcement is part of that. It has not been discussed yet, but there is a list of ideas that people in other councils have implemented or binned.

“We are getting a lot of complaints about rubbish on the streets and much of it emanates from landlords who have a high turnover of people moving in and out every six months.

“We want enforcement officers to be able to go and knock on doors so they know which bins are which and when to take them out.

“They could also say ‘I notice you have left a mattress outside’ and charge them to send out the message that it is not acceptable.

“Hazel [Simmons, Leader of LBC] and I have asked officers to look at ways to fund enforcement, so we can deal with all of these issues. We can’t rely on fines paying for this service, as if it works people will not be getting fined. We are looking at other ways to fund it.”

Compulsory recycling schemes

Compulsory recycling systems are already implemented in several English local authorities, including Croydon and Islington councils.

In January 2013, Croydon Council implemented a compulsory recycling policy that sees officers monitor recycling presented for collection. In the first instance, households that are not recycling are talked to by officers. After two warning letters, however, officers have the power, under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, to issue a fixed-penalty notice of £80.

At the outset of the policy, the council predicted that as well as increasing the recycling rate and reducing the LA’s impact on the environment, £200,000 a year would be saved.

Islington Council runs a similar scheme, where recycling advisors will visit households not using their recycling and food waste service. Advisors, say the council, can issue fines, but will only do so as a last resort ‘if they are sure that someone has all the information and containers they need to recycle, and are deliberately not recycling’.

More information on Luton Borough Council’s waste system can be found on the council’s website.