Under the proposals, landlords of properties using communal recycling bins will face a charge of £47.14 if the bins are found to be contaminated.
Recycling bins that are contaminated with unrecyclable materials would remain uncollected until the charge is paid.
Alternatively, landlords will be asked by the council to remove the contaminating material themselves.
According to an executive report from the council, if the landlord fails to pay or to remove the contamination within a “timely period”, they will be served community protection notice (CPN) to prevent the contaminated bin “negatively impacting the community”.
Islington council explained: “It is anticipated that a charge will encourage managing agents and landlords to work with us to proactively engage with their residents to raise awareness of recycling and to reduce levels of contamination.
“We expect the charge to incentivise landlords to take their own actions to reduce contamination. A range of resources will be made available to landlords to support them in engaging with their own residents to drive down levels of contamination at the properties they manage.”
Costs
Currently, recycling bins contaminated with non-recyclable materials are emptied for free at a cost to the council, for which it said there is “currently no budget”.
The council reported that sending out separate crews to empty the bins costs the council £41.91 per hour, plus a collection cost of £5.22.
It calculated that the total charge of £47.14 will offset the additional cost of collection.
The report anticipated that the charge could generate around £70,710 for the council annually, however added that the charge is also expected to drive levels of contamination down which would reduce the revenue benefit over time.
Waste Reduction and Recycling plan
The charges come as part of the councils Waste Reduction and Recycling plan, which sets out a series of ways to tackle recycling contamination.
The plan includes a new design of recycling lid, which aims to reduce contamination at communal recycling sites, and working to improve bin labelling.
The plan outlines targets to reach a 33% household recycling target by 2022.
Islington council serves around 236,000 residents and recorded a 29.6% recycling rate in 2019/20, Defra figures show.
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