Owner to give up rabbits as green bin too small

Jackie Macadam claims the bags of straw used by her rabbits, Dax, Kira, Kes, Dallas and Maddison, is more than will fit in her green bin.

She has asked for a larger bin but claims she was turned down as she “doesn’t have four children”. Council officials said that they are under no obligation to provide bigger bins for pet waste.

The 53-year-old also asked if the binmen would take extra waste but was told they would not.

After her husband tried to cram all their rubbish into one bin they received a letter saying her bin would not be collected at all if it was overfilled.

Now Jackie says she is out of options and is looking to re-home her rabbits.

She said: “I try to keep the rabbits clean so I guess I produce about three black bags a week.

“It’s just hay and sawdust but because it’s animal waste I can’t put it in the brown garden waste bin so it has to go in the green bin.

“We recycle everything we can – plastic, glass, tin cans, soft drinks cans, but there is just not the room for the black bags.”

Jackie said the problem started when the council changed to fortnightly rubbish collections.

She initially got by because the house next door was vacant and she was able to deposit the extra bin bags in its wheelie bin.

However, the house is now occupied.

Jackie, who has had the rabbits for 18 months, says she does not want to take the additional waste to a tip because it “defeated the object” of recycling by having to drive somewhere to deposit it.

“I have asked the council for a separate bin just for the rabbit poop but was refused. I asked them for a bigger bin to ease the problem a little, but they said I couldn’t have one unless I had four children.

“I asked if they could pick up black bags labelled rabbit waste if I left them at the side of the bin, but they refused.

“I really feel like the only thing left for me to do is re-home the rabbits, which is a massive shame. But I won’t clean them less because I don’t think it’s fair on them.”

She added: “I hate to have to do this, but the council really isn’t leaving me any option.”

A council spokeswoman said the allocation of bigger bins depended on the individual case but said it was under no obligation to provide them for pet waste.

She said: “Our advice to people with excess pet waste is either to compact it as best they can or take it to the nearest tip.”