HEAVY fines will be dished out to people who flout recycling rules by one Hampshire council.

Fareham is the first council in the county threatening to slap serial offenders with a £75 charge.

This decision was made after some residents were found to be filling up recycling bins with engine parts, used nappies and industrial waste.

Council chiefs say this system will come into effect straightway.

Leader Councillor Sean Woodward said: “This is not to punish people who accidentally put something in the wrong bin once in while, it is a deterrent for those who repeatedly abuse the system and just don’t care.

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“There are serial offenders who are contaminating whole lorry loads of recycling and they are doing it persistently.

“The fines will only affect the tiniest percentage of people and be used as a last resort. We need to have a final sanction and this is it.”

The move has been criticised by the TaxPayers’ Alliance which said the fines would act as a deterrent rather than an incentive for residents to recycle.

Campaign director Mark Wallace said: “I’d say there’s a real danger that these draconian rules could be abused by the council to squeeze money out of people.

“Even more worryingly they will make people resent recycling rather than welcoming it, it’s far better to give people an incentive and a reward for doing this.

“The more we recycle, the more the council saves in land fill tax, they should take the money they save in tax and give it back to good recyclers.

“I don’t think it’s particularly fair and I don’t think it’s particularly productive.”

Cllr Woodward didn’t believe the fines would have an adverse effect. He added that the council continuously sends out information about the recycling scheme.

On the first few occasions a piece of rubbish is incorrectly put in the recycling bin the bag will be tagged and left behind, the next step is a visit from advisors and then a letter.

Only after these measures have failed will a resident be fined £75, which falls to £40 if paid within two weeks.

Fareham Society secretary Brenda Clapperton believes better communication is needed with residents to help them understand which items to recycle.

She said: “Not a lot of people fall foul of this, but I did think the way the policy is presented could worry people.

“If they really do want to make sure that people are putting things in the right place it’s only right to inform them which of those items are acceptable.

“They have got to watch very carefully that people are updated so if things do change they are aware of it.”

Fareham currently recycles 42 per cent of its waste netting tens of thousands of pounds.

However the council hopes the tough new measures will help push this up to 50 per cent.