A GREASBY mum claims Wirral Council binmen dumped garden waste on her driveway because her wheelie was “contaminated” with a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds.

When Beth Ferrey looked out of the window of her Greasby Road home on Thursday morning she was surprised to see a large mound of grass cuttings on her driveway, next to her brown bin.

She quickly went outside to clear it up, thinking that it had perhaps blown over but was left shocked when she realised the true cause.

“Strangely, the bin had been emptied but this large pile of grass and leaves had been taken from the bin and dumped on the ground.

“As I cleared it up I realised why – I had put at the top of the bin a handful of pumpkin seeds which had been scooped out of my daughter’s Halloween pumpkin.”

Beth had thrown the seeds into her brown bin as they were perfect for composting but when she phoned the council’s street scene team, she was told pumpkin seeds might “contaminate” the garden waste contained in the bin.

Wirral Globe:
Beth Ferrey with the wheelie bin she claims Wirral Council binmen "emptied" onto her driveway.

The mother-of-two said: “I’m not sure why they needed to tip out at least one third of the bin of grass clippings, presumably this could also have been contaminated by the pumpkin seeds.

“I think the brown collectors are being very petty, this behaviour is utterly ridiculous for a service that I have paid extra for.

“The call operator who took my call asked if I saw them do it as she thought someone else may have done it – I can’t think of anyone who would want to empty my brown bin except for one pile of grass.

 “It was pathetic not to take the pumpkin seeds seeing as it is obvious they hadn’t been used for food preparation as it was the day before Halloween.

“They didn’t need to empty half of the bin onto my drive just for the sake of a few seeds.”

Councillor Bernie Mooney, Wirral Council’s cabinet member for environment and sustainability, said subscribers to the garden waste collection are given instructions as to what they should and shouldn’t place in their brown, garden waste bin.

She said: “Pumpkin seeds are food waste so they shouldn’t be put in the brown bin. We don’t currently have a separate food waste collection service, so food waste needs to be bagged with other non-recyclable waste and put in the green bin.

“The policy for the collection crews is that if they discover a contaminated bin, they should mark it as such as not collect it.

“They should not remove items from a bin. In this particular instance, the crew confirmed that they did not remove any items from the bin and collected the garden waste as normal.”