Two-fingered Green Bin fiasco - Tory council urged to "get a grip" on recycling.

9.11.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 19th Jun 2008

The Conservative administration on West Wiltshire Council is being urged to get a grip on the situation following adverse publicity in the national press over their green bin policy.

Contractors refused to empty a green bin belonging to a Warminster resident on the grounds that the bin couldn't be lifted by two fingers, and was therefore too heavy.

LibDem waste spokesperson Cllr Rosemary Brown said: "As far as I'm concerned if the householder can move the green bin themselves then there is no excuse whatsoever for it not being moved by the refuse collectors and emptied. For months on end some of these bins are not used and the contractors, Focsa, have absolutely no work to do in alternate weeks. It is most regrettable that they are making a fuss and inventing new rules that simply will not do. The good people of West Wiltshire are paying their Council Tax and they expect a first class service as a result".

Trowbridge councillor Jeff Osborn added, "Since this story appeared in the national media I have had numerous local residents contact me demanding that their green bin - full of grass cuttings - is collected and emptied this week. They are adamant that this is what they pay their Council Tax for and expect the Conservative controlled Council to deliver."

"We've heard nothing from the administration in response to this debacle," said LibDem leader Trevor Carbin, "But then we'd heard nothing of the so-called two-finger policy either before the press got hold of the story. The Tories on the council seem to be hiding their heads in the sand in the hope the fuss will die away, but residents of West Wiltshire need to be reassured that they're not going to have their green waste rejected for some spurious reason. In the last election the Tories used the slogan 'Vote Blue get Green.' The nearest thing we've had to a 'green' policy since then seems to be this ridiculous attempt to discredit the green bin system. Perhaps their slogan next time should be 'Vote Blue, Two Fingers to You.'"