�75 fine for man who put his rubbish in the bin

[AB Asks]

A man thought putting his rubbish in a public litter bin was a good idea seeing as he had to wait another fortnight before his next rubbish collection. The council traced the man after finding a letter addressed to him amongst the rubbish. They accused him of flytipping and demanded a �75 fine to be paid. What do you think? Was this man right to put his rubbish in a public bin rather than wait a fortnight until it is collected? Or are the council being unreasonable, they are not providing enough rubbish collections; therefore people are finding other ways to dispose of their waste?

[Gromit]

If they found paperwork with his address on then that should have been in the recycle bin. If he recycled then he wouldn't have had to fly tip. He is obviously extremely dim by leaving his address. 20 hours Community Service picking up litter would be a more appropriate punishment.

I am sure this is in the Daily Mail as it is the only paper the Ed reads, but I can't be bothered finding the link.

[Pippa68]

I hope he decides to spend a further amount of money on a paper shredder!

[vehelpfulguy]

>The council traced the man after finding a letter addressed to him amongst the rubbish.

He has obviously never heard of Identity theft either.

I shred all letters and envelopes (even junk mail).

Some junk mail from banks and credit card companies comes with forms already partly filled in with your name address and birthdate which I think is AWFUL.

[Pippa68]

Exactly, VHG ~ he is lucky it was only the council who traced him.

However even that is dodgy.

[Reverandfunk]

Does it say "not for household refuse" on rubbish bins?

[08012006]

Why shouldn't he dispose of his unwanted stuff in the public litter bins. The kids don't seem to use them for the purpose they were put there for, judging by the cans, bottles, paper etc strewn all over my local pavements.

[Reverandfunk]

I think its a bit petty to be honest.

What exactly are you allowed to put in a litter bin?

Ive thrown things with my address on in a public litter bin, was this against the law?

[jake-the-peg]

Can you imagine if everybody who missed their bin men came and dumped all their rubbish is waste bins on the high street.

Chicken carcasses the lot.

I don't think you'd consider it petty if the bin was close to your house - I think you'd be on here in full rant mode!

[IggyB]

everyone knows that you can't put household waste in public bins - if people are too selfish or dim to follow this rule then they need to be fined to help them learn...

and I doubt its a 2 week wait till rubbish collection its probably one week recycling the next week other rubbish - so if this selfish git actually tried following the guidelines and recycled he'd be fine rather than fined lol

[jno]

erm, hang on, VHG - the council tracing him by a letter addressed to him means no more than that it had 'Mr J Smith, 1 Oxford St' on it. Any would-be identity thief can get this from the phone book or electoral roll - unless he's so paranoid he goes ex-directory and doesn't vote. As long as your letters don't specify your credit card numbers you're probably safe throwing away ordinary mail; you can only spend so much time hiding. (Rather than shred junk mail, I return it to sender, post unpaid.)

[BIG DAD]

I think its a joke, it is just an excuse to claw more money from joe public, all this will encorage is for people to make sure there is no letters with their address in the rubbish then dump it where ever possible. the fortnightly refuge collections are 2 long and should be looked at. Its another example of how the councils in the uk will do anything to get money off us, Fortnightly collections, no change in council tax, parking, using the wrong bins etc. P1$$3$ me off

[O'Reilly]

The answer is in the question and some of the answers. A public litter bin is for the use of THE PUBLIC not for Joe loggs to fill up with his own personal litter. Nobody (apart from one idiot) in their right mind would do that. He could have waited for the next collection or taken his cr@p to one of the many council dumps in the Country. he chose to use a PUBLIC amenity and probably bung it up from any other contents being put there so created a mess because of his laziness. Good for the council to fine him. He deserved it.

[sandbach99]

This man is 84 years old. According to the article he 'neatly packaged some kitchen food scraps and put them in a carrier bag before placing them in the bin'.

So Boston council have an employee going round checking what is put in street litter bins, at the same time they are running a campaign asking people to use the street bins more and are asking people to identify litter louts pictures published in the local paper.

Surely the council could have sent a letter explaining that street bins are not for kitchen waste rather than a �75.00 fine

[Reverandfunk]

If the bloke is 84 its a pity they havent got anything else better to do

[kempie]

SO... what I have read so far informs me that Joe Bloggs (aka Joe Public) is not allowed to use a PUBLIC litter bin especially not for such waste as chicken carcasses. Where is he able to dispose of any remains from his KFC takeaway 'meal'?

[Reverandfunk]

So I go to kentucky fried chicken buy a bucket of chicken eat it and then throw the bucket in a litter bin have I broken the law?

Isn't that the remains of chicken?

What about eating a chinese/kebab/chips etc on the wat home and throwing the unwanted contents in a bin?

I'll throw mine in the road in future

[Reverandfunk]

Lol well said kempie

[society]

I do think it's a bit unfair to the man though; the man is part of the public and he has all right to use the bin like everyone else. Maybe a warning of some sort instead of a fine.

The fact that this man dumped his rubbish in the public litter bin should send a message to the council alerting them how urgent it is that we need better service.

[kempie]

A few further points...

Placing refuse or litter (there is no statutory definition to differentiate these terms even under The Environmental Protection Act 1990) in a Local Authority receptacle designed for that express purpose is the very opposite of "fly-tipping".

If there was any cause of complaint or nuisance from the contents (not being controlled waste) of the litter bin where it is incumbent upon the authority which maintains said bin to ensure it is emptied with sufficient regularity (The Litter Act 1983) and it should be the Council, if anybody, to receive a fine.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondat a/acrobat/appendix2jan05_1024495.pdf