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A council has been blasted over a £350,000 decision to change the colour of wheelie bin lids so residents aren't confused. Cllr Peter Byatt branded East Suffolk Council's decision to change garden bin lids from green to brown a "complete waste of money".

The council proposed the idea after the new wheelie bin for paper and card, which is grey with a green lid, are being introduced as part of new government rules. They feared this would cause confusion with already existing bins of the same colour, and Councillor Sally Noble, East Suffolk Council's lead for the environment, argued that people getting the colours mixed up would cause collections to become contaminated.

When appearing at a cabinet meeting to ask the authority to agree to the lid trade, Councillor Noble said it was the most efficient way to meet new recycling regulations, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"We said early on the garden waste bins could cause confusion alongside the new green-lidded bin being introduced for card and paper," she said. "It's important that we address this cost as effectively as possible and replacing lids only is far cheaper."

The meeting was told that completely replacing and distributing the bins would cost more than £1 million. Buying the new lids is expected to cost £300,000, and distribution and fitting another £50,000.

However, Cllr Byatt suggested putting brown stickers on top of the green lids instead to avoid confusion and spending an eye-watering sum of money.

Cllr Mark Jepson added that clear notices on wheelie bins would prevent any confusion by providing guidance to residents, and save the authority money.

Defending her proposals, Cllr Noble said any other arrangement could lead to the wrong waste being put into the wrong bins and contaminate collections.

She said it followed an agreement by all local authorities in the county to standardise bin colours as part of the government's push for greater consistency.

The plans were approved unanimously by the council.