Civil Liberties, Health Care, Food Policies

Pensioner, 95, Threatened with Prosecution after Putting Butter Tub in Wrong Recycling Bag

Warning: The note was left on the pensioner’s recycling bin, warning her she could face prosecution

May 19, 2010

Daily Mail - A grandmother aged 95 was threatened with prosecution after putting a plastic butter tub in the wrong recycling bag.

Relatives of the woman say she was left horrified by the ‘scary’ legal notice, which they claim could have triggered a heart attack.

Her granddaughter, Karen Walters, 42, said:

‘It is scary and ridiculous – she is a really law-abiding citizen. If she had seen the warning, she would have had a heart attack.

‘But luckily her son spotted it before she saw it. The fact is that a 95-year-old was threatened with prosecution. She was horrified when she was told about it.’

The threat came from a town hall which provides its residents with no fewer than seven recycling bins and a complex set of ‘rubbish rules’ they must follow.

Households in West Cross, Swansea, where the woman lives, are supplied with a black bin for non-recycling waste, collected fortnightly; a green bag for glass and tin and another for paper and card; a pink bag for plastic; and dark green sacks for garden waste.

They are also given a kitchen slop bucket, and a container for slops to be kept outside, which is collected weekly.

Mrs Walters said that her grandmother had washed 15 tins and put them in a green bag for collection – but had mistakenly added an empty butter tub, which should have gone in the pink bag.

After spotting the container, binmen left a legal notice advising why they had not collected the bag and warning that mixing up recycling can lead to prosecution.

The 95-year-old, who has asked to remain anonymous, said:

‘It is ridiculous. It has put us all off recycling.’

Over the past five years, local authorities have introduced increasingly draconian powers to fine households which fail to obey recycling rules. Many councils have appointed so-called ‘bin police’, who can hand out £100 on-the-spot fines to anyone who puts out their bins too early or tries to throw away more than their designated amount of rubbish.

Residents who fail to comply with the instructions face prosecution.



In one case, Gareth Corkhill, a bus driver from Whitehaven, in Cumbria, was fined by magistrates because his wheelie bin was so full the lid would not shut properly.

And last week it was revealed Hull Council had asked families to report their neighbours if they commit ‘environmental crimes’, such as putting out rubbish too early.

The Environment Department declined to comment on the 95-year-old’s case, saying Swansea’s rules are supervised by the Welsh Assembly.

But Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has told friends she believes ‘common sense’ rules should apply in such cases.

A spokesman for Swansea Council said:

‘It was never our intention to prosecute the lady and we would like to apologise for any confusion and distress this may have caused her or her family.

‘We hope this doesn’t discourage her or any other residents from recycling. Councils have challenging recycling targets to meet and we want the public to work with us to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill.’