Snoop squad to search through dustbins

Residents face a council snoop squad rifling through their bins, and will be fined if found guilty of putting rubbish in the wrong one.

Islington's Labour council insists the maximum £110 fines will be a last resort for repeat offenders.

Today the man in charge of the checks said recyling "education" had failed and now the council had to "compel" residents to be greener.

But opposition councillors said the new measures had been introduced by stealth, with no public consultation or debate.

Islington is already under fire for "big brother tactics" after deploying a taskforce to check that dog owners are clearing up after their pets.

From February, the borough, which is home to Mayor of London Boris Johnson, will force all residents to recycle all household waste, bottles and food scraps.

Councillor Paul Smith, executive member for the environment, said: "We will go through bins (and) we have the power to do that. If people don't like it they can vote for somebody that doesn't make recycling compulsory at the next election.

"Some people have concerns about people going through their bins because they have got private stuff in there. So we will let people know first."

The team of 20 specially-trained "street management officers" will search through bins if they are receive intelligence that any of the borough's 190,000 residents are putting leftovers in the wrong bin or dumping cardboard in with plastics.

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