Four recycling bins - that's nothing!

Rochdale households who think it is complicated using four recycling bins are trailing behind homes in Newcastle-under-Lyme — where they have nine.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance today (Thursday 17 February 2011) released the first full survey of the number of bins that each council asks residents to sort their rubbish into.

It found Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, residents have the biggest job sorting their waste into nine separate bins.

But some far flung councils collect recycling from a single bin: the fewest bins are at Dumfries and Galloway and Isles of Scilly with one.

Rochdale has bins for refuse; glass, cans and plastic; paper and cardboard; and garden materials.

Neighbouring Oldham has five bins - for refuse; paper and cardboard; glass, cans and plastic; garden and food waste; and kitchen waste.

Other key findings are: the average number of bins into which residents in the UK are required to sort their waste is four, but 58 councils collect six or more bins.

Chris Daniel, policy analyst at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Having to sort rubbish into numerous bins often frustrates taxpayers.”