More than 500 bin inserts are replaced every month after they get damaged or go missing.
Following claims by members of the public that bin inserts often get thrown away into the bin lorries along with the recycling waste, the council was asked for the figures.
Nearly 20 recycling bin inserts — which are made of plastic — are replaced a day on average on the Isle of Wight, new figures have revealed.
It has cost between £182,000 and £199,000 to replace the green bin inserts for paper and cardboard— depending on the size of the caddy — in the past 5 years, but the Isle of Wight Council has not had to foot the bill.
Between April 2018 and March 2023, 30,665 containers were replaced. On average, 6,133 inserts are replaced each year – that’s 511 a month. A small insert costs £5.95 to replace whereas a bigger one costs £6.50.
The most common reasons why the inserts are replaced, the council says, is because they are either damaged or lost/stolen.
The Isle of Wight Council said it does not record whether an insert has been thrown away into the bin lorry.
The cost of replacing the inserts falls to the Island’s contracted waste service provider — which was previously Amey, but is now under a different Ferrovial company.
The Isle of Wight Council has justified the replacement inserts saying as it was over a 5-year period, and across around 72,000 properties crews collected from each week, it was “only a turnover of 8.5 per cent per year”.
A council spokesperson also said residents are able to have more than 1 insert box to recycle more.
Well our one is damaged, but not by us ,perfectly OK one day battered and broken after bin lcollection …..
Quite often bins etc just thrown back !!!!
So don’t blame us the poor souls who pay our council tax, it’s the collection where things go wrong …….
Yep, we’re on our third. Stood and watched our current one being maltreated upon collection last time and now the rim has 3 broken edges!
But can’t blame bin men either,the poor guys/gals are pushed on time so much, they have to run down/up our street to keep up with lorry. 2/5secs extra on each bin all adds up when doing 1000s a day. Why we need insert anyhow? Goes to same place at recycling plant. Yep I’m on my 4/5 after being chucked into lorry.
mine also damaged on the edge ,these bin colectors have got no idea how to treat there property all they care about is job and knock .the quicker they finnish then its time to go home
I agree with you, the majority of damage is caused by the refuse teams chucking them across the road after emptying, and surely it is within the bounds of science to design and manufacturea refuse container that can withstand the rigours of everyday life
“The cost of replacing the inserts falls to the Island’s contracted waste service provider” Do the council think island residents don’t realise this cost is either already taken into account or will be recirculated into next year’s bill from the contracted waste service provider? Everything has a cost that needs to be paid by someone and as the cost of waste collection is covered from residents council tax payments we’re already covering the cost of these inserts being thrown away or mistreated to destruction.
How can anyone suggest a 8.5% failure/reject rate is acceptable and expect the taxpayer to be happy about it?
With the current economic climate how can any financial loss through negligence be accepted
excessive work pressure also has a price but no accountant will see / understand that as they are so remote from the process they financially administrate even tho are often the ones that advise on ” profitability ” !!. Go figure.
I’m not surprised at all i once witnessed our bin man throwing ours across the road it broke and I never bothered getting it replaced as couldn’t see the point
The Bin men are not the brightest sparks, hence being Bin Men.
Bit like Builders, they leave their sh*t everywhere.
I think you are thinking of horses
Much like many of the contributors on here – controversial ? lol
We simply stopped using ours after we got a broken one back instead of the one we left in the bin.. pointless piece of rubbish that has no effect on whether or not your green bin gets emptied. If they cost too much, stop using them, its just another faff on the whim of a company or IWC.
My green bin is clean and empty I don’t recycle due to my bin insert got damaged by Amey it’s easier just put rubbish out fortnightly simple
Thank you so much for your contribution to saving the planet. Perhaps you should meet our neighbours who dump their surplus black bin rubbish in their green bin and don’t sort anything
I do the same, they broke mine too.
They employ clumsy f’cukers
All that plastic, think of the climate.
Get them made of polycarbonate…. bit more expensive, but the damage reduction will be huge!
No wonder our council tax keeps going up every year.
Bring back the old metal bins, environment friendly.
All this plastic sh*t is a waste of money and is damaging the climate
Pointless have you watched bins being emptied the grey insert is tipped into green bin then green bin emptied into wagon
I stopped using mine and was told unless for black box was in the bin they won’t empty the green wheelie bin
I’ve never had one. It all seems to go in the same bit of the lorry, and they always take it, so not sure why they bother creating more plastic rubbish to put plastic rubbish in.
Make great storage containers !
These bin inserts are too flimsy, not fit for purpose. We have had two, the first went in the back of the refuse lorry and the other was broken when being replaced in the bin. Our current one has edges broken off so doesn’t sit properly and when it doesn’t sit at all we will be asking for another.
So, bin inserts are chucked into the collection lorries, amongst the paper recycling. The council ought to ask the company to investigate how much paper waste is contaminated with black plastic for just this reason, and how about making the company liable for the cost of it.
This is news to me. I’ve never had a bin insert
Have not had one your years. First one got broken by the bin men. Never asked for a new one. It’s a dark pattern, they council don’t want them but government is forcing them. So the council ensure it fails.
I gave up with the inserts and use a banana box each time.
moved to the Island July 2019 – lost bin insert 2 weeks later and had to manage without ever since !. We didn’t remove it from our bin so can only assume the bin man kept it or there’s a bin insert theif about.