‘BIGGEST DUMP IN BRITAIN’: after three years of Jason Perry as elected Mayor, and 27% hikes in Council Tax, this is what the borough has become under Tory control
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Having dumped his secret plan to charge a £5 admin fee for new bins, now the borough’s Tory Mayor is charging residents up to £39 for replacement wheelies. By our Town Hall reporter, SANDRA STEAD
Rubbish Mayor: Jason Perry binned his previous wheelie charge when he got found out. Now he wants more, much more…
Jason Perry, Croydon’s rubbish Mayor, now wants to charge the borough’s long-suffering residents up to £39 a time for replacement wheelie bins – even when their bins have been broken or lost by the council’s contractors.
There was no formal, public announcement by the cash-strapped council as this latest move was sneaked out six weeks ago. There’s been nothing about it in failed Mayor Perry’s weekly homily posted on the council website, either.
The move comes about 18 months after Perry was forced to drop an earlier plan for a £5 charge per replacement bin. That was estimated to save the cash-strapped council little more than £30,000 per year – much less than the part-time Mayor’s £84,000 annual salary.
The new Veolia deal comes with some reductions in service provision, making it cheaper and quicker for Veolia to deliver their services.
And now the council appears to have volunteered its residents to pay the cost of replacement bins and recycling boxes, too.
According to the council website, from August they have been charging £8 for replacement recycling boxes, £33 for 240l recycling wheelies for paper, plastics and glass, and £39 for 180l general waste wheelies.
Since he was elected in 2022, the Mayor has hiked Council Tax by 27%. And if that is not enough, last year, he wanted to charge a £5 “admin fee” for every resident request for a replacement bin, to be introduced from April 2024.
Piss-poor Perry dropped that idea once this website reported it and, to be fair, ridiculed the obviously idiotic idea.
The council’s Labour opposition also discovered that from January 2024 there has been a “cap” of 2,500 new bins per month for the entire borough. This was down from around 4,000 bins provided per month under Veolia’s earlier contract – another significant cost saving for Veolia.
The capping of bin replacements created a backlog, with a 12-week waiting list and residents being told by the council to bag up their rubbish and leave it on the streets, with inevitable consequences.
Such imbecilic decisions go a long way to explain why Croydon, under the failed leadership of Mayor Perry and his chief executive, Katherine Kerswell, has been attracting headlines in national newspapers, calling the borough the
“BIGGEST DUMP IN BRITAIN”.
According to council insiders, another cause of the delays and order backlogs was because of “a really shit IT system and no real management of orders”.
Since the previous Veolia contract was signed in 2017, whole neighbourhoods across Croydon, Sutton and Merton are now blighted by “Binmageddon”, with pavements blocked off with the 3ft 6in tall wheelies in areas where householders have no off-street storage area for the bins. Households can have up to four wheelie bins each, if they subscribe to the garden waste service.
Secret charges: how Croydon Council’s website shows the new charges inflicted on the borough’s long-suffering residents
In 2023, Veolia were sacked by Croydon and the three other councils in the South London Waste Partnership, following “significant and ongoing concerns” over their performance.
Veolia’s re-appointment in 2025, by mug councils Merton and Sutton as well as Croydon, probably provides all the assurance the rubbish contractors need that they won’t be required to pay to replace the bins, when it is their own workforce that is mostly responsible for breaking or losing them.
Tony Hooker and the nice people at Litter Free Norbury seem to have been the first to spot the new, secret bin charges.
“Having inflicted Binmageddon on our streets by rolling out the requirement for residents to have a multitude of wheelie bins,” Hooker notes, “it appears that from 19 August 2025, Croydon Council has introduced charges for replacing bins and boxes — with fees of up to £39 per bin.
“Many residents have to request replacements because the waste contractor breaks the lids off during collections or fails to return bins properly to the correct household.
“Now, we’re being asked to pay for damage we didn’t cause.”
Hooker reckons that this latest secret imposition on the people of Croydon is likely to cause:
- More fly-tipping, as residents or bad landlords refuse to pay for replacements
- Increased bin theft, as people try to avoid paying fees when they feel they already pay the council too much already
- Another general decline in neighbourhood cleanliness
“We all want a clean, well-run borough — but this policy punishes residents for issues outside their control.”
Yet again, under Mayor Perry and council chief exec Katherine Kerswell, the residents of Croydon are paying more and getting less. Much less…
Read more: #Binmageddon: Now Croydon named worst in UK for fly-tipping
Read more: #Binmageddon 2: Clinical waste collections halved in new deal
Read more: #Binmageddon: Mayor’s secret plan to charge £5 per new bin
Read more: #Binmageddon: Veolia provides consistently rubbish service
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I’ve had numerous lids broken by the collectors and you used to be able to get just a replacement lid – no more, it’s a whole bin and I had to take the old one to the tip myself (obviously a common occurrence as they have a place for bins at Fishers Farm). Luckily that was before charges were introduced and I’ve got a big enough car. They’ve now broken the handle of my food bin, which means that foxes can get in and litter the street.
Very happy with my bin collection here in Coulsdon and previously in Kenley. Council delivered a new food waste bin free just after we moved in March
Apparently the Viz comic character Roger Irrelevant was inspired by you
At least old Part Time still has one vote in the bag at least.
This is shameful the people in Croydon have suffered and paid enough due to the political establishment both past and present. Such bins need replacing due to damage caused by Veolia and not residents. Another issue not thought through, where is tge impact statement? If replacement bins are damaged by the contractor they will not pay and more and more black sacks left in the streets along with increased volume of flytipping.
Isn’t it funny that every act undertaken by Perry is to the benefit of Private Companies and to the detriment of the residents of Croydon. Even as he cuts services and makes life worse he makes sure he is benefits his old pals.
Who decided this, when and how? I can’t find anything on the Council’s website that answers those questions, and our sly bastard of a Mayor failed to mention it in his weekly propaganda “news” emails. Funny that…
Like the lollipop cuts.
Both are a poor reflection of “scrutiny”, and the so-called opposition, who appear obsessed with delivering leaflets, and not much else
They also charge for bulky waste collection now- used to be free. I may aswell dump it on the payment given they’ll pick it up anyway. Zero logic
As the mayor’s contractors leave the path in front of our maisonnettes thrown haphazardly across front gardens, path and a communal area, without putting any of them back at the address they came from, it is hardly a surprise if they get damaged or lose lids. We have no wheelie bins – we have outdoor refuse cupboards, and despite having replaced the hinges with ones enabling the doors to open fully and facilitate removal of bin bags, the contractors rarely bother to close them. One of two of the bin blokes are excellent but most are irresponsible vandals. Why should we pay to replace wheelie bins or recycling bins which have been damaged by Mayor Perry’s contractors?
In the grand scheme of things and Croydon’s mounting debts and interest payments, the least the Council could do is supply replacement wheelybins and recycling boxes free of charge to residents who pay their salaries.
There was a manufacturing fault with the blue lid bins. Many of them around here have broken lids. I put a screw into ours to fix it
When council caretaker services were reviewed approximately 18 months/two years ago jointly with a panel of Tenant& Leaseholders from estates. It was discovered that two of the staff were deemed to be maintenance and included replacing lids and wheels in the wheelie bins. Note service charge is paid at £12.97 pw for flats, maisonettes and sheltered accomodation and those in council houses £ 2.60 every week in addition to rent. These bins have never been repaired since the council introduced the three bin system. The posts have ceased and the repairs. So will the residents who pay for this service but have not had it for years get a refund or not have to pay the Mayirs proposed charges?
I wonder how residents of Castlemaine Avenue would feel if their bin were to go missing. I’m not sure all politicians feel enough empathy to be able to apply common sense.