Douglas Council says it’s trying to keep staff safe by asking residents not to put sharp items in their recycling.

The council pleaded to residents after staff found a retractable utility knife on one of its collection rounds recently.

A spokesperson for Douglas City Council says blades and similar sharp objects can present a ‘danger’ to refuse and recycling staff as well as residents.

According to the council, knives should be taken to the civic amenity site and disposed of in the metal bin instead.

Chair of the Environmental Services Committee, Falk Horning, says it’s not a regular occurrence and believes people are trying to do the right thing by recycling their rubbish.

He commented: ‘It’s quite an uncommon occurrence, but of course every time that happens, our recycling collection operatives are in danger of getting cut as well as the people that process the recyclables at the council’s waste transfer station.

‘It’s really important that this happens as little as possible.

‘When our recycling operators collects the boxes from households, they have very little time to sort through the boxes and they are in a very tight time schedule, so they have to act very fast.

‘Another example is broken glass in the recycling boxes. They can’t be taken, they have to be either put in the normal bin or brought to the civic amenity site, but they can’t be put in the recycling boxes.’

Asked if the council is putting forward any measures to protect its staff if knives are found, Falk said: ‘Our staff can reject recycling boxes when they deem that there is really unacceptable items in there.

‘They wear the protective gloves of course, but if there are really sharp objects in there like broken glass, knives or even needles, then total protection can’t be given and they can be rejected.’