COUNCIL bosses have launched a crackdown on wheelie bin crooks after revealing thefts and vandalism are costing taxpayers £55,000 a year.

The move comes after Councillor Dave Smith told councillors of reports that bins taken from elsewhere in the country had turned up as far away as Ireland.

Coun Smith told Blackburn with Darwen Council's environment task group that many wheelie bins go missing around the borough, often through children setting light to them or people taking neighbours' bins to replace their own which have gone missing.

Wheelie bin supremos, Coun Ashley Whalley and Dave Smith, had been invited to answer the environment task group's questions about waste management strategies for the borough and recycling, but started by answering questions about wheelie bins.

Last year, almost 2,000 wheelie bins were stolen, costing the council more than £56,000 to replace and causing householders inconvenience.

Coun Smith said: "A lot do go missing. There have been reports of wheelie bins that have turned up in Ireland." He said he believed this was mainly a problem in Liverpool, however, he also said many people do take their bins with them when they move house.

But although new householders have to pay £52.41 for a wheelie bin, Coun Smith said: "Our policy is we don't think it's fair people have to pay if their bin goes missing, and in some cases people won't pay and rubbish ends up in back streets."

The council, which is part of a consortium of local authorities to buy wheelie bins in bulk to reduce costs, is now looking at ways of making it more difficult for people to steal them and take them elsewhere.

Coun Smith said: "If they are genuinely stolen or have gone missing we will replace them free of charge because the alternative is people cannot afford, or want, to buy them."

Coun Ashley Whalley, executive member for regeneration, told the meeting: "One of the things that got missed in the confusion of the executive board meeting when wheelie bins were discussed was what we are trying to do is get people to use their wheelie bins properly.

"Part of that is getting people to take 'ownership' of them. The idea is to try and encourage people to paint their addresses on them."

Coun Whalley said it was not uncommon for bins put out for collection to end up at houses in the wrong road if they did not have street names and numbers on them.

Hyndburn, Pendle and Ribble Valley do not use the wheelie bin system, but spokesmen for Burnley and Rossendale Councils said they also had problems with missing bins. A Rossendale Council spokesman estimated around 300-400 wheelie bins per year had to be replaced in the borough, out of 25,000.

He said: "It's not a major problem, but it is a problem." Like Blackburn with Darwen, both councils replace stolen wheelie bins free of charge, but check reports of missing bins to ensure people are not "trying to beat the system".

Bin numbers are affected by:

Vandalism as youngsters wheel them away and/or set fire to them

People taking wheelie bins when they move house

Bins accidentally ending up at the wrong address after collections

People stealing them

Measures to tackle the problems include:

Putting Blackburn with Darwen Council crest on new bins.

Urging people to write their house number on bins in white paint

Asking people not to put their bins out the night before collections if possible

Encouraging people to bring their bins in as soon as they have been emptied.

BIN FACTS

Between January and December last year 1881 standard wheelie bins were reported missing in Blackburn and Darwen

70 smaller wheelie bins were also reported stolen last year

Standard 240 litre wheelie bins cost the council £30.07 each

Last year the council spent £56,561.67 replacing missing wheelie bins

All new wheelie bins now have the Blackburn with Darwen gold crest embossed on them in case they are taken out of the borough