Enfield Council has issued a stark warning to residents who have been putting nappies into the blue-lidded recycling bins – Stop! Or face an £80 fine.

Nappies (clean or dirty) are not recyclable. The same goes for sanitary products and incontinence pads (such as ‘Tena’ and ‘Always’), which should be placed in the black-lidded waste bin. Yet each year nearly a thousand tonnes of contaminated recycling material has to be thrown away because people discard such products into their blue-lidded bins.

Enfield Council is therefore taking a zero tolerance approach. Any blue-lidded bins found to have incorrect items in them will not be emptied and will instead be issued with a sticker explaining why. Householders that repeatedly put incorrect items in their recycling bins face a Fixed Penalty Notice of £80 and possibly having their bin removed.

Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Daniel Anderson, said: “We are kicking up a stink against those who put nappies and other similar waste into their recycling bins. As well as being bad for the environment it ends up costing us money since an entire recycling load can end up having to go to landfill instead.

“Say NO to nappies is about reminding residents NOT to put them and other sanitary products into blue-lidded bins. Instead, put them into the black-lidded waste bin, wrapped if possible, to help keep Enfield clean.”

Further information about your recycling service and the items you can or can’t recycle can be found by visiting our rubbish and recycling pages.

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