£1.7m cost of bringing in smaller bins

Smaller wheelie bins for every house in Wolverhampton to get more people to recycle will cost taxpayers £1.7 million, it can be revealed today.

Residents will only be able to throw out just over half as much rubbish as they currently do without recycling it because their old wheelie bin will have to be used for recycling cardboard, plastic, paper, cans and glass.

It is the second time that city residents will be asked to change the way they recycle in three years.

Wolverhampton City Council is to deliver new bins to 98,000 homes next year in a bid to replace green recycling boxes and flimsy white bags used for cardboard and plastic.

The expense comes after the council introduced a £1m scheme, funded by the Government, to provide slop buckets for food waste and spent £100,000 advertising it.

The council spent £90,000 on purchasing almost 100,000 white plastic bags in October 2008, which were heavily criticised because they blew away in the wind after being emptied.

At least 7,000 flimsy white recycling bags costing £1 a time have been replaced after blowing away. The introduction of the new bins, which measure 140 litres compared to the 240-litre current bins, had been due to coincide with the introduction of the slop buckets in January.

But council bosses put their launch until 2012 amid concerns that binmen could revolt as the launch would coincide with ongoing negotiations of new single status pay deals, which could see staff lose wages.

Kerbside collections for glass, can and paper will be brought in between January and March 2012 at the latest.

The cost of introducing the new bins was today revealed in the council's financial strategy for the coming year.

The council, whether under the current Labour administration or the previous Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, has pledged to continue with weekly collections of food and non-recyclable waste.

Labour environment chief Councillor Bob Jones said: "This is to simplify the arrangements and we will also be able to accept a wider range of plastic items than we did before."

Opposition Conservative environment spokesman Councillor Barry Findlay, who introduced the plans before Labour took over the council in December, said: "It means people can put all their dry recycling into one bin without having to separate it into the box and bag and we think it will encourage more people to recycle."