Replacement bin charges are back in Walsall

Bosses agreed to look at scrapping the £18.50 cost if a bin is stolen from outside homes in the borough.

The replacement fee was stopped in February but has been brought back in again this month.

It has come as a shock to some residents who believed the controversial charges had been scrapped by Walsall Council permanently, as long as a crime reference number as provided.

Figures showed families across Walsall forked out more than £33,000 in replacing bins between April 2013 and March 2014. There were 1,805 containers bought in that period.

Darlaston South councillor Chris Bott said she was shocked to find that the fee applied again and had only been free-of-charge on a trial basis.

"I thought they were replacing stolen bins as long as they had a crime reference number," she said.

"It should be permanent. When somebody has had their bin stolen they are annoyed, they want it replaced."

The policy was first introduced by the council in 2001 and initially cost £16.50, but increased in 2008 as part of the budget process. It said the cost did not cover the full amount for purchase and delivery.

It is the latest controversy over bins on the borough after it emerged 38,000 went uncollected last year because of contaminated waste.

The council has a zero-tolerance approach to cut the amount of wrong items in green bins, such as food, household waste, nappies and black bags. The bins are checked for items and those that fail go uncollected.

The 38,000 figure is a fall from 60,726 in 2013.

Walsall Council wants to cut the amount of rubbish sent to landfill and said the reduction in uncollected bins showed the message is getting through.

When the crackdown was introduced more than two years ago, there were almost 50,000 bins not picked up by bin men in just the first four months.