Council threatened legal action against Holloway businessman who refused to pay for bin bags he doesn’t need

A struggling Holloway printing business has been threatened with court action by Islington Council for not paying for unwanted bin bags.

Leighton Printing in Palmer Place, Holloway, only uses one refuse sack a month but is tied into paying for 50 a year because of a contract.

The company has now accumulated well over 100 rubbish bags as most of its waste is recyclable – but despite protests from management the council continues to send more bags and charge them for it.

In 2014 the town hall threatened the business, which has been struggling due the economic downturn and the decline of printing, with fines and court action for not paying the £70 for the bags.

Asvin Patel, secretary at Print Set, said: “We’ve got many bags left over from previous years, so when it came through for 50 more bags we didn’t pay the invoice.

“The council sent some enforcement officers and we paid as we thought it was too much hassle.

“Now this year I pursued the whole matter again and we were told that we have to have the minimum 50 bags.

“We still had all the bags from the year before, what do we do with them? They haven’t replied.”

Mr Patel said he is willing to pay the £52 “duty of care” charge but shouldn’t have to for the bin bags.

However, he said his main concern was the council’s waste management policy.

“It’s less about the money,” he said, “I’ve paid.

“The point is it’s an environmental issue for the future.

“Most of our waste is recyclable and we’ve got a small staff. I really don’t like wastage, everybody has to work together the make this country the best and most efficient in the world.

“We want to become greener and stop the Islington council from bullying us from doing so.

“I’m going to pay it but they are going to have to come up with a successful way of managing waste.”

Bill Sinfield, Islington Council’s commercial waste manager, said: “We value all our customers but unfortunately the minimum commercial waste contract we offer is 50 bags per year.

“A member of our team will speak to the customer to explore whether recycling his waste is a better option for meeting his disposal requirements. This is a service we offer all businesses and is cheaper than other types of contract.”