If your bins outside your home are overflowing and the lids cannot close, the council might not pick them up anymore due to safety concerns triggered by a tragic incident involving a waste collector.
In response to this issue, the Belfast City Council plans to enforce a strict rule where overstuffed bins will be labeled with red tags and left unemptied starting on June 23.
But before the full implementation of this policy, starting from May 12, households with overflowing bins will receive amber tags. These bins will still be emptied during a transitional period, but residents will be notified with a warning.
Newly-made bin lorries are additionally now being adapted so that any bin with a raised lid will trigger a new sensor and stop the bin lifter from operating.
It comes after concerns were raised that spillages and falling objects from overfilled bins are a safety risk to staff, and can also damage collection vehicles.
Officials carried out a survey last summer which found that nearly 10 per cent of bins out of more than 6,000 examined across the city had raised lids.
The council is also proposing a ban on extra-large bin liners which some households use to cover the inside of their outdoor bins, because they can snag on equipment.
A council report said operational crews ‘have been raising for some time the issue of overfilled bins as a both a safety reason and a reason for non or missed collections’.
Belfast City Council issued a series of images of overfilled bins in its report about the issue
Another one of the images released by Belfast City Council after its survey on overfilled bins
Belfast City Council is set to activate a new zero-tolerance policy on overfilled bins
The authority’s collections policy includes a valid reason for rejection of collection to be ‘if the bin lid is not fully closed and could cause a health and safety problem’.
Its report added: ‘Until now waste collections worked in a pragmatic way in that if an individual bin was open slightly then crews would be expected to collect. However, in effect this was running contrary to council policy.’
The council also cited the death of refuse collector David Carpenter in Coventry in January 2023 when he was crushed to death on a residential round.
Mr Carpenter’s coat became tangled up in lifting equipment before he was dropped in the back of the lorry as an automatic compaction cycle began.
An inquest found that the bin lifter mechanism could allow bin lifts to be raised ‘without differentiating what the bin lifter was actually lifting, causing the operator to be lifted into the back of the refuse collection vehicle and subsequently crushed’, the report said.
As part of manufacturer Dennis Eagle Ltd’s response to the inquest, the firm made clear that emptying bins with open lids is against their training procedures, which state: ‘Always ensure that the lids of wheeled bins are closed before presenting them to the bin lift.’
It adds: ‘Do not attempt to empty overfull wheeled bins, this can lead to spillage and falling objects which could cause personal injury or damage to the bin lift equipment.’
Those with overfilled bins will receive an amber tag from May 12 along with a flyer (left), with the bin still collected; but from June 23 (right) bins will be issued with red tags and not taken
Dennis Eagle then informed local authorities that ‘allowing this practice to continue is at the user’s risk’, according to the council’s report.
New vehicles will have new additional sensors attached to the bin lifters which mean any object presented to the lifter or entering within its safety zone which is higher than a standard bin – such as a person – will not be lifted as the sensor will stop the lifter.
This also means any bin presented with a raised lid will trigger the sensor and the bin lifter will cut out – and the vehicle will therefore not lift overfilled domestic bins.
The council has also taken ownership of five of the modified vehicles with 19 more on order, due to arrive by the end of next year.
Its 38 ‘in service’ vehicles have all now received a software retrofit and drivers are getting refresher training on the vehicle modifications and their safe operation.
Because of this the council said it was ‘essential to plan the cessation of the practice of emptying overfilled bins’.
The council’s plan was backed by a people and communities committee at City Hall last night and is expected to be ratified by the full council at a meeting on May 1.
A publicity campaign is being planned to tell residents about the changes – but one unnamed council official admitted ‘this isn’t going to be easy’, according to BBC News.
Belfast City Council cited the death of refuse collector 60-year-old David Carpenter (pictured) in Coventry in January 2023 when he was crushed to death on a residential round
The council is also urging people to take any bags that will not fit into to rubbish and recycling centres or try to flatten them down – rather than piling them up next to a bin.
Committee chair, DUP councillor Ruth Brooks, said: ‘We have a duty to protect our employees. While we rely on bin collections, we cannot do it at the cost of staff safety.
‘Bin liners and overfilled bins are putting our operatives in danger and so we are acting now. All residents will have time to adjust to this new policy, but this is a sensible phased plan to protect staff and maintain collection services.’
Another councillor said he ‘didn’t want to be sitting here in six months talking about the death or serious injury of one of our operatives’, reported the Belfast News Letter.
A Belfast City Council spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘At yesterday’s meeting of the council’s people and communities committee, elected members agreed measures to protect staff safety while emptying bins.
‘They include communicating to residents the importance of making sure their bin lid is fully closed, so bins can be safely lifted into the bin lorry for emptying. Householders will also be asked not to use large liners to line their bins.
‘The measures will reduce the risk of accidents to staff and prevent debris from falling from overfilled bins and onto staff.
The plan in Belfast was backed by a people and communities committee at City Hall last night
‘In relation to overfilled bins, this is necessary due to safety modifications introduced by the vehicle manufacturer for new vehicles which will prevent, amongst other things, overfilled bins being lifted and emptied.
‘These vehicle manufacturer modifications have been introduced as a result of the findings of the coroner’s report following the death of a waste operative in Coventry in 2023 in order to prevent a reoccurrence of the tragic incident.
‘If ratified by full council in early May, amber tags will be placed on affected bins, as part of a phased approach, to support residents in adjusting to the changes.
‘Overfilled bins, where safe to do so, will still be emptied during this initial phase. A red tag will then follow, from late June, when operatives will no longer empty bins which are lined and/or are not fully closed.’
The local authority added that further details of the measures, and support available for residents, will be available on the council’s website and social media channels over the coming weeks.
It comes amid continued chaos in Birmingham after members of the Unite union launched an all-out strike last month over pay and jobs which has led to tonnes of black bin bags not being collected.
Birmingham City Council declared a major incident on March 31 because of the impact and talks between local government and Unite are continuing in an effort to break the deadlock.
Clare Keogh, of Unite, said earlier this week that anger at council cuts was growing nationwide among refuse workers and there was ‘massive potential this will escalate’.
