THURROCK Council says it is not using the microchips in the new recycling bins to spy on residents.

Residents who have received the new blue and brown recycling bins have contacted the Gazette to express concern that the council will use the chips to charge them for how much rubbish they chuck away.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said: “This is a violation of human rights, there was nothing in the leaflet that came with the bins to say they had chips in them.

“The council say the chips are used to monitor the total weights of recycling and food waste, but this can be done already with the on-board weighing systems that Refuse collection vehicles already have.

“There is also a second way of weighing the waste which every vehicle uses, which is the weighbridge at the entrance of the tips.”

The resident is also concerned about the cost of the chips to the tax payer.

She added: “The cost to the resident for the chip which is inserted into the bin is roughly £1 per chip, we have been issued with two extra bins which include two chips I will let you do the maths for the whole of the borough.”

Thurrock Council say the micro-chips cost 60p per bin and it has no means to record what residents throw away and therefore cannot charge them.

Council spokesman Andy Lever said: “The council looked at microchipping some years ago when this technology first came on the market.

“We used it for the bins in the blue bin trial and again in the brown bin trial. The inclusion of microchips was made clear at that time. The system has operated successfully ever since in the trial areas.”

He added: “The microchips will enable us to gather valuable information on the number of bins in regular use; the amount of material which is collected; and areas of poor performance and when vehicles are under- or over-loaded.

“We are still not proposing to microchip the green or grey residual waste bins at all.

“The original bins supplied many years ago cannot be chipped and the replacements which we provide as and when they break are not microchipped either.

“We therefore have no means at all of recording what residents throw away and therefore are not able to charge for this service.”