30-year-old Paul Strickland of Bolton Road, Worsley, was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court yesterday (September 9) after pleading guilty to theft by an employee.
Recorder Garside QC sentenced Mr Strickland to six months in prison, suspended for 24 months. He was also ordered to pay an £80 victim surcharge.
He worked for the council as a refuse collector from August 2008 until his resignation earlier this year, according to a council spokeswoman.
Greater Manchester Police had received a report on June 29 2015 that a “significant number of compost waste bags had been stolen from an organisation in Weaste, Salford”.
8,200 bag rolls
The allegations involved 8,200 rolls of biodegradable food waste bags – which the council provides free of charge to residents as part of its weekly food waste collection service – worth £5,500 and were investigated by the council’s internal audit team and the police.
The council said it was first alerted “by a whistleblower to allegations that bags were being stolen and sold on eBay”.
Residents requiring more compostable liners are advised on the council website to tie an empty liner to the lid of their pink green waste wheeled bins and place it out for collection. New bin liners are then delivered to the doorstep for free.
A spokesman for the council said it was one of “only a few across the country which supply these bags free, to try and maximise recycling”.
Salford council has said that in future all of its free biodegradable food waste bags will now be stamped with the council logo “to prevent fraud”.
Speaking after yesterday’s sentencing, Salford city councillor Gena Merrett, assistant mayor for housing and environment, praised the whistle blower who raised the alarm.
She said: “They did absolutely the right thing by coming forward and enabling us to uncover the fraud and take immediate action. Mr Strickland breached the trust placed in him and has rightly been punished for that.”
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