‘We're astonished by the response’: Litter pickers fume at council’s answer to request for more litter bins

A town’s litter-picking volunteers have voiced their disappointment after Shropshire Council dismissed their requests for more litter bins.

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Bridgnorth Litter Pickers wrote an open letter to Shropshire Council this week voicing frustration that missing bins in the town have not been replaced - some for a number of years.

The group said that the missing bins are encouraging littering and making their job harder.

They sent the council photographs and pointed out where litter bins have not been replaced - including four in the town centre - and urged the council to replace the missing bins.

But Shropshire Council leader Heather Kidd said the authority is not planning to install any more bins in the town and denied that the council had removed any.

She said: “Bridgnorth already benefits from a substantial number of litter bins located throughout the town centre, residential areas, parks, and key visitor locations. At present, there is insufficient operational justification to support an expansion of the existing network.”

The litter pickers said they were “astonished by the response”.

The group said: “We believe her response fundamentally misunderstands our request and fails to accept the evidence we presented.

“We have not asked for an expansion of Bridgnorth's litter bin network. We have simply asked for the replacement of litter bins that previously existed.

“We are equally disappointed that Shropshire Council believes there is ‘insufficient operational justification’ to restore these bins. The evidence we submitted tells a very different story.

“We have provided numerous photos showing unemptied, overflowing bins, and rubbish gathering where bins are missing. Far from demonstrating that the current system is working, this evidence clearly shows that the existing level of provision is regularly failing to meet demand.

“There appears to be no willingness to restore basic infrastructure that residents have already lost. Nevertheless, we remain committed to working constructively with Shropshire Council to find a practical solution that prevents litter in the first place, rather than relying on volunteers to deal with the consequences afterwards.”