After discovering last week that the council was selling compost bins at £17 each, against its own policy, and having told 67,000 households where to go to pay £17, I today secured assurances that anyone buying one at this price will recieve a refund of £9. Council policy is to provide the bins for £8 each.

I find it incredulous that they would be so incompetant as to deliver 67,000 leaflets without making sure that the website  and contact centre had changed their prices. The website still has the £17 charge (www.recyclenow.com), but I am assured that this will be changed.

At least 5 people have already paid £17 and they will recieve a refund.

The council also has just £30,000 this coming year committed from your taxes to waste minimisation programs (or 6p per resident). By contrast next year it expects landfill tax charges of £6-7 million (£14 per person) – clearly priorities are not in the right place. If the council had been more proactive over the last few years we wouldn’t be facing a whopping £30 plus charge per household for this tax. Other councils have put in place the correct systems – Durham County Council needs to get its act together.