A FAMILY of nine who religiously recycle their refuse have been told the second green bin they have acquired will not be emptied. Keith and Carol Powell, who live in Langley Grove, Sandridge, with their seven children, have two green bins – one they think

A FAMILY of nine who religiously recycle their refuse have been told the second green bin they have acquired will not be emptied.

Keith and Carol Powell, who live in Langley Grove, Sandridge, with their seven children, have two green bins - one they think was left by mistake when the bins were distributed in the village - and they always fill one and go over into the second.

The family are committed recyclers and joke that they should win a prize for the amount they put in their green bins and boxes.

But the recycling team have now told Mr Powell they will not be taking the second bin, and a call to the district council resulted in him being reprimanded for his actions.

Mr Powell told the Herts Advertiser: "I said this council is trying to break all recycling records so basically what do we do?

"It is absolutely ridiculous. We are being told we must recycle. If they lowered people's council tax for recycling, we would be top of the pile," he added.

A spokesperson for the district council said every household could have either a 240-litre or 140-litre green wheeled bin. Although residents might want a second one and be willing to pay for it, the council could not currently offer that option because of the costs involved.

"The green waste collection is up to full capacity already and the cost of adding another collection across the district could be as high as �100,000 to �120,000 per round, per year, excluding the cost of administration and the extra bins.

"As only some households would want this service, it would mean the majority would be paying for the additional needs of a few unless households were billed direct and the cost of collecting the fees would also add to the cost of the additional service."

She said the alternative was to home compost green garden waste together with some food waste and thin cardboard.