Council's threat to resident over common neighbourhood bin move: 'Recurring problem'
The resident has accused their neighbour of "dumping" unwanted items inside their recycling bin.
A frustrated household has been left with a full bin for another week after the council refused to empty it thanks to one detail the resident claims wasn't their fault.
The recycling bin in question was wheeled out onto the residential street in Auckland this week and after collection, the resident found it full to the brim instead of empty. A paper flyer found inside provided the answer.
It read: 'We haven't emptied your rubbish bin because it contains the following items we don't accept', with the words 'plastic bags' scrawled at the bottom.
The council threatened to remove the bin from the resident if wrong items continued to be found inside.
Resident accuses neighbour of 'dumping' plastic bags in bin
The resident claims they've been "extra cautious" with what they put inside the bin, mindful of which items are eligible to be recycled and which are not. Therefore, they concluded that someone must've dumped the plastic bags into their recycling bin.
"I guess someone [is] dumping their plastic rubbish bags (which is not allowed) into our bin after their bin got full," the resident claimed online. "This is a recurring problem in my area."
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The resident explained all of the neighbours "put their rubbish bins together in a certain spot" on the street so it would be difficult to determine who was dumping the trash in their bin, causing them to miss this week's collection.
"It's a good neighbourhood, it's just the few sh***y people who live here and think they can dump their overflowing trash into other people's bins," the resident said.
Recycling bin 'often' used for dumping, residents claim
After the resident shared their frustration online, many others confessed this has been an issue they've faced in their street too, with one resident saying it "happens so often" that the contents inside the different coloured bins seem to have no distinction any longer.
One resident admitted they purchased a padlock for their bin to stop others from using it, while another said they will only wheel their bin out just before the garbage truck arrives.
The different types of recycling bins and what can be put in them differ from council to council, and indeed country to country, but overall certain types of materials can be reused or broken down and recycled into something new, saving resources.
Paper, cardboard, glass and certain types of metal cans — such as tin and aluminium — are widely recyclable, whereas plastic bags and the contents inside them cannot. Guidelines on where to put what during the household disposal process are provided by local councils.
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