Fresh anger over damaged wheelie bins

BIN lorries in Solihull are refusing to empty recycling bins which have cracked open as a result of a major manufacturing fault.
Solihull Council has warned that it cannot tip "severely damaged" bins into the back of the lorries for safety reasons and has told people to use alternatives.
The latest announcement has infuriated some borough residents, thousands of whom are still waiting for their container to be replaced. As in other parts of the borough, the split bins have become a common sight in neighbourhoods including Chelmsley Wood and Castle Bromwich.
As of last week there were still around 6,500 bins due to be replaced, with households warned they could have to wait up to 20 working days - as crews struggle to keep up with demand.
Solihull's Green Party councillors have accused the council of not allocating enough resources to get the growing problem under control.
Chelmsley Wood councillor James Burn admitted it would have been impossible to predict that a defect this severe would develop.
But he suggested that the decision by the Conservative-run authority to contract out refuse collections to the private company Amey had left them with fewer options to act.
Concerns have also been raised about the work that had been done to keep residents informed.
A Solihull Council spokesperson said: "The bins which are severely damaged cannot be safely lifted onto the vehicles to be emptied; therefore we are asking residents to leave their recycling in alternative suitable containers for collection.he
"These can be woven shopping bags, plastic boxes or clear sacks, and residents can collect the clear sacks from our walk-in centres and libraries.
"We are looking at how we can make it easier for residents to report the issue and if we can improve our processes to reduce delivery waiting times for replacement bins."
To date more than 10,000 brown wheelie bins have been replaced, with the number of requests having risen dramatically since last December.
Councillors have confirmed that the supplier will cover the costs of replacements, but questions have been raised about the added expense of dealing with complaints and delivering replacements.