'Our binmen don't have time to leave fresh recycling bags,' says council spending £40,000 on sending them in the post

A council is spending almost £40,000 mailing out binbags because binmen are 'too busy' to leave them on people's doorsteps.

The expense has been branded 'ridiculous' by the Taxpayers’ Alliance and public sector workers’ union Unison.

But leaders at Derby City Council insist that a cost-cutting reorganisation has left the refuse crews without time to hand out recycling bags along with information about its new recycling scheme and details of collection dates.

The council has so has posted about 100,000 bags and information packs at a cost of around 38p a pack, although it could not provide an overall cost because not all had been sent out yet.     More Read