Councils are hit with big bills in battle over the bins

Litter bins worth thousands of pounds have been stolen by metal thieves or damaged in Staffordshire and the Black Country last year, it has emerged.

Seven bins costing a total of £1,680 were reported missing to Walsall Council while damage costing £1,100 and £600 was done to bins in the Dudley and Stafford areas respectively.

Although none had to be replaced in Sandwell, metal lining from bins had to be replaced on six occasions after being targeted by thieves.

There were dozens of cases of bins going missing around the Queslett Nature Reserve area in Great Barr and Keith Linnecor, the chairman of the park's friends group, is now calling for them to be replaced with plastic ones.

"Litter bins are still disappearing at an alarming rate," he said.

"As I see it the main problem is thieves stealing them for the metal linings.

"I am continually trying to get bins replaced and have asked council chiefs to consider using plastic bins where it is appropriate."

Walsall's bins cost taxpayers £240 to replace each. Council spokesman Steve Sharma said: "There are in excess of 1,100 litter bins in the borough and we will replace as budgets allow." In Dudley, five bins needed replacing at a cost of £220 each. Councillor Patrick Harley, Dudley's cabinet member for transportation, said most are plastic but there were 60 metal ones in high-profile locations covered by CCTV.

Stafford Borough Council replaced six damaged bins at a cost of £95 each.

Meanwhile, it cost £25 to replace the lining of the bins in Sandwell. A spokesman said: "We replace with plastic bins now when we do need new ones, they are cheaper and more durable and obviously not valuable so less likely to get stolen."

Steve Woodward, Wolverhampton City Council's head of street services said: "We have a total of 1,333 litter bins. They're bolted and anchored in sites that are prominent."