North Northants Council's new green bin scheme has 'no flexibility' say family who fill six garden bins

A family of animal lovers say they would like a common sense approach when a new subscription service for green waste comes into force.

Barton Seagrave residents Lynne and Stuart Wildman and daughter Bex care for their mini menagerie.

The diligent owners care for guinea pigs, tortoises and hens, emptying hay and sawdust bedding into six green waste garden bins which are collected fortnightly by North Northants Council (NNC).

Under the new system, households are limited to four green 240-litre wheeled bins – each annual subscription costing £40.

Mrs Wildman said: “Currently we have six grey bins (garden bins) which are emptied every two weeks.

"We have this many as we have a particularly large garden plus two guinea pig cages, two tortoise vivarium and a coop for two hens. These pets are all cleaned out at least twice weekly thus producing a lot of sawdust and hay waste - so with all of this plus garden waste it just about fits into our six bins.

"On the new system, we will be allowed to pay for four grey bins at a charge of £40 a year, but not allowed to dispose of the pet sawdust and hay in these, so we are at a total loss about what we can do.”

Mr Wildman has been trying to get clarification.

He said: “We contacted the customer service department at North Northants Council, who were very pleasant but could not suitably advise us and were unable to connect us on two occasions to the waste and recycling department.

"They also stated that we would be unable to have additional black bins as we already pay for one extra. It appears to us that there is no flexibility to cater for individual needs - households are not the same.”

The family already has four compost heaps to deal with waste from their third-of-an-acre garden.

They currently pay £29.95 quarterly for an extra black bin.

Mr Wildman said: “They are saying we can't put sawdust, hay and wood chippings into any of our bins, but you could put cat or dog poo in a bin bag into a black bin. Even if they allowed us, we still wouldn’t have enough space. It’s encouraging fly-tipping. They said to compost it but we already have four compost heaps – the volume is just too much. They only thing we could do is bag it up and take it to the recycling centre.

"We would like not to be treated as a system, but be treated with some flexibility and a common sense approach. We don’t mind paying for one of those big bins.”

Mrs Wildman added: “I’m sure we can’t be alone in this problem. We enjoy giving animals a good home, tending to their needs. They are not part of the family, they are family.”

Terms and conditions state that items accepted for the garden waste bin are grass, leaves, flowers, plants, weeds, hedge trimmings, twigs, prunings, small tree cuttings, fallen fruit (not food waste).

Not accepted are cardboard, compostable liners, plastic bags or other liners, kitchen waste including vegetable peelings, pet bedding, faeces, soil, turf, rubble, vacuum cleaner contents or wood.

NNC say that once material is contaminated with animal waste, it is considered ‘offensive waste’.