Mum locked up after putting recycling out in wrong colour bin bags

Lyndsey Webb was given a conditional discharge at Suffolk Magistrates' Court Picture: IAN BURT Archant © 2006

An Ipswich woman who dumped 60 bags of rubbish outside her home has been prosecuted for using the wrong bin bags.

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Lyndsey Webb, 34, was detained by police but eventually released without being convicted - although she was ordered to pay £50 to Ipswich Borough Council.

Webb was also given a six-month conditional discharge after appearing before magistrates on video from the police station.

She was arrested on a warrant after failing to attend court in April.

Ipswich Borough Council prosecuted the mother-of-three for breaching the Environmental Protection Act four times near her St Helen's Street flat in March.

Webb was said to have "fallen foul" of changes to bin collection system rules earlier this year, when residents without storage space were no longer permitted to deposit black bags on the street.

Prosecutor Richard Essex said well-publicised changes saw black bags replaced with orange and clear bags for waste separation.

"Residents were advised to contact the council to get stocks of orange bags, where relevant, and start using them from March," added Mr Essex, who said the case involved about 60 large black rubbish bags being dumped in Dove Street over a 22-day period.

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The rubbish was reported by a passing warden, who saw a pile of 10 black bags on the pavement on March 4.

A search of the contents found bills addressed to Webb, who was recorded on CCTV the next night making two journeys to deposit more bags on the street.

On another occasion, she was recorded pushing a trolley of bags at 3.30am.

Mr Essex claimed £600 to cover the cost of clearing up the waste and £200 towards the prosecution.

Jeremy Kendall, for Webb, said she had used black bags without issue until March, when orange bags she requested never arrived.

"She was given permission to put black bags in the same position for collection - albeit on collection days," he added.

"She has three children, who generate quite a bit of waste. She made no attempt to be underhand. While unseemly, it didn't inconvenience anyone directly because the bins were left outside a boarded up shop."

Mr Kendall said Webb failed to attend court in April because she never received a summons.

"It's pretty distressing for her to be taken into custody," he added.