Belfast City Council has decided that people’s bins will no longer be collected unless their lids are firmly shut – and bin liners are banned.

Before now, the council has given city residents some leeway when black general rubbish bins have been left out with their lids slightly ajar, allowing them to be collected even though doing so is technically against the local authority’s policies.

But the council is to adopt a zero tolerance attitude to bin lids over the next two months, launching a six-week “bedding in” period from the middle of May during which problem trash will be given a warning tag before the rules come into full force on June 23.

At the same time, plastic bin liners are to be banned, as officials say they can make collection a problem for binmen.

placeholder image — Overfilled black bins such as this won't be collected under Belfast City Council's new rules.

Council statistics say that almost one in 10 of the city’s bins are left out with lids that can’t be closed, while more than one in 20 have plastic liners in them.

The bin lid and liner bans were voted through at a meeting of the council’s People and Communities Committee last night (8th), during which officials pointed to safety concerns as the reasons for both measures.

The lid move arises from a horrific accident in England two years ago, in which a workman was carried into a bin lorry’s compactor by a hoist and crushed to death.

New lorries are now being manufactured with additional safety features, while existing vehicles are being modified. Those safety features mean overfilled bins can’t be lifted by a lorry’s hoists, so all black bins must be left out with their lids firmly shut.

Plastic bin liners are usually fitted by professional cleaning firms, say council officials, but present problems for binmen.

Liners can get tangled in lorry mechanisms, they state, and can lead to bins slipping out of hoists while being lifted and falling to the street.

They’ve also caused vile and at times dangerous waste to scatter over streets and even council staff, say officials, with workers reporting “putrid liquids, debris, glass, sanitary waste and surgical needles” dropping onto them from bins fitted with liners.

Banning them will mean professional cleaning businesses can still do their jobs, officials add, while five other councils already refuse to collect bins fitted with liners.

Last night’s committee was overwhelmingly in favour of both the lid and liner bans, with one councillor commenting he “didn’t want to be sitting here in six months talking about the death or serious injury of one of our operatives”.

In advance of the new rules coming into force, the council is to tell people not to stack black rubbish bags up past the lid of bins, but instead take them any that won’t fit to recycling centres or amenity sites.

The public will also be told to take advantage of the council’s free bulky waste collection if needed, while also being encouraged to recycle as much as possible and flatten down bags in their bins ahead of collection day.