Milton Keynes council seeks wheelie bin enforcement officer

The vast majority of residents will move from sacks to wheelie bins including two bins for recycling

A council is looking for an enforcement officer to check households are putting the correct items in their new wheelie bins.

Milton Keynes City Council's waste collection service will relaunch on 4 September .

Officers will investigate offences, take witness statements and issue fixed penalty notices to offenders.

Potential candidates have been warned that officers would be expected to "deal with potential conflicts".

The potential salary for the role in the team is up to £32,000 a year.

The district is replacing its plastic sack collections with the solid bins, but some residents have called it "bin-mageddon" and said it would swamp streets with the large bins.

In 1992 Milton Keynes was the first place in the UK to introduce kerbside recycling

More than 300,000 new wheelie bins have be delivered across the council district with households having up to four each.

Black bins are for non-recyclable waste, bins with red and blue lids for different types of recycling and an optional green bin is for garden waste.

While general waste will remain on a weekly collection schedule, recycling will be collected on alternate weeks.

The council said the move was to help people recycle more and reduce waste.

The new enforcement officer will be able to issue fixed penalty notices and preparing case files for offences related to "non-compliance" with the new service.

Government guidance is that a standard default penalty for putting items in the wrong bin is £200, with a maximum fine of £400.