Sharp items left in blue bin bags were the single largest cause of injuries to Wokingham refuse collectors in the past five years, Bracknell News can reveal.

It comes as a debate rages between the Liberal Democrats who run the council and the Conservatives who oppose them on whether to switch refuse bags to wheelie bins.

Currently, general waste is collected from Wokingham borough households in blue rubbish bags once a week.

But the Lib Dem-controlled council voted in March to switch to wheelie bins, as part of a move to alternating fortnightly general waste and recycling collections set to come in next summer.

The council also recently appealed to residents not to dispose of sharp items in blue waste collection bags after a refuse collection worker was injured by glass.

Now, a freedom of information request by the Bracknell News has revealed that the vast majority of injuries to refuse collection workers in Wokingham were sustained while handling blue bags.

A total of 25 workers were injured handling the bags since 2018 – the earliest data that waste contractor Veolia could supply. Of those, 16 were cuts caused by glass or other sharp items left in the bags—with three of those needing hospital treatment.

The remaining nine injuries were hurt backs or pulled muscles. In contrast, only three recorded injuries were sustained while handling recycling waste—all of them cuts—and none since these occurred after green recycling sacks were introduced in 2021.

READ MORE: Wokingham bins collector hurt after glass left in blue bag

Ian Shenton, the councillor responsible for waste collections, said he couldn’t definitively say that wheelie bins are safer until he could compare the figures with data from other councils.

He added that the council had decided to make the move ahead of anticipated government laws regulating the collection of general and recycling waste – and that it was “ineffective and inefficient” to collect plastic waste bags every week.

He appealed for residents to be careful when disposing of sharp items.

But conservative councillor Norman Jorgensen said the council should “stick with the current arrangements.” He added: “Having to store wheelie bins is not sensible or possible for everyone.”

He added: “If workers are getting injured then something needs to be done about it. People need to stop putting items in the bags that will injure people.”

A Veolia spokesperson said: “All our operational teams at Veolia receive training to handle waste as safely as possible and wear PPE including gloves and ballistic trousers.

“With circa 130,000 recycling and refuse bags being collected every week from Wokingham households, the number of incidents related to sharp items is a very small proportion.

“Nonetheless, we take every report of injury seriously and work closely with Wokingham Borough Council to reduce the number of occurrences.”