Chair of the council's Economic and City Development Scrutiny Committee, Coun. David Scott, wants to know the real reason why the recycling bin in St Helen's Square has been removed.

Coun. Scott said:

"I am puzzled as to why the recycling bin has been removed from St Helen's Square. At a time when we should be promoting recycling and increasing recycling facilities this bin has been removed."

"I have been told that the bin has been removed because people were putting the wrong materials in the different compartments and ‘contaminating' the recycling. But this just does stand up to any form of scrutiny. The Council regularly sorts through and separates recyclable materials so why can't it do the same here? In addition, the other city centre recycling bin is still in place at Kings Square so the ‘contamination' issue isn't a problem there."

"Despite asking I am yet to be told who authorised the removal of this bin and in particular if any councillor gave their consent.

"In a city that is as great as any other in the world we should have facilities for residents and visitors to recycle their litter in the city centre. If cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Florence and Paris can do it, then so should we. We should be a world class city in everything we do."