Rubbish claim: Residents changed 793 large bins for smaller ones after the roll-out.

Haringey Council has rubbished claims that it wasted £16,000 buying bins for residents who didn’t want them.

Haringey’s Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Cllr Jim Jenks said the Labour-run council should have consulted residents before giving them large bins under new recycling arrangements being rolled out across the borough.

The authority has since taken nearly 800 of them back after residents requested smaller ones, prompting Cllr Jenks to say it “should have consulted” them before buying them at a cost of £16,000.

He added: “It’s frustrating for local residents to have to contact [waste contractors] Veolia and persuade them to let them have a smaller bin. What a lot of wasted time and effort.”

Cllr Nilgun Canver, cabinet member for the environment, said: “I won’t be lectured to by the Lib Dems about cost. Our new recycling scheme will save £900,000 a year through reducing reliance on expensive landfill.

“Lib Dem plans would see more landfill and as a result, spiralling costs to local taxpayers.

“Of course, we want recycling to work well for every household and this includes ensuring they have the most appropriate sized bins.”

A council spokesperson said the “service uses thousands of bins and any large ones that are replaced with a smaller bin are cleaned up and put back into stock, they are not wasted”.