A binman is under investigation after he was caught on film MIXING carefully-separated rubbish.
Canterbury City Council implemented a new £1 million rubbish collection system this month to make the city’s waste collection more environmentally friendly.
Residents were asked to separate their rubbish into two recycling bins – one smaller box for card and paper inserted into a second larger wheelie bin for cans and glass.
But the new system has come under fire after a resident caught a binman on camera tipping the carefully-sorted rubbish into one bin.
The film shows the refuse collector twice dumping the contents of the card and paper box into the larger recycling wheelie bin.
All of the combined rubbish is then tipped into the back of a single rubbish truck.
The footage was captured in Whitstable, Kent, by resident Colin Council, 55, who is seen being confronted by one of the angry binmen in the video.
Colin said: “I had to read what to put in the bins a few times.
“When I saw them outside my door shove it into one I thought ‘what is the point of recycling’.
“I decided to go down the road and get a video to show what was happening.”
Resident Marc Greenhill-Jeffrey added: “This is unbelievable. After all the hard work of people to separate their waste and to at least try to do our bit, this is where it gets us.
“And as for the bloke asking why he was being filmed, I’d say that all council tax-paying residents have every right to see how their money is being wasted.”
Artist Sarah Banville – one of those whose bins appear in the footage – said she is furious that she wasted her time sorting the rubbish.
She said: “We spend ages doing our recycling so if this is what they are doing it is terrible.
“The information they give you is quite complicated and then they disregard it.”
The council, which outsources its refuse collection to waste contractor Serco, yesterday (Thurs) said the video highlighted an “isolated incident”.
Canterbury City Council chief executive Colin Carmichael said: “We are shocked and horrified at the footage.
“A lot of hard work has gone into preparing the new scheme and residents have been diligently separating their rubbish as we asked.
“To then see this happening is completely unacceptable and we are very sorry.
“We are having urgent discussions with Serco to investigate what their staff have done, which we strongly hope is an isolated incident.
“If there is any disciplinary action or retraining of staff required, we will insist that this happens as a priority.
“And clearly we will be looking at what we pay Serco in these circumstances.
“It’s really disappointing because the new scheme has got off to a great start, with thousands of households taking advantage of the new glass and food waste collections.
“We want to reassure residents that we will urgently resolve this matter with Serco. Please stick with us and what we’re trying to achieve.”
Sean Trotter, Serco’s Lead Contract Manager for Canterbury Environmental services, said: “We have begun rolling out a new recycling and waste collection service over the last week for residents in the Canterbury area.
“Our staff have undergone comprehensive training to understand the changes to the new service and consequently to the way in which they collect waste from households.
“Unfortunately, three collection staff were seen mixing already separated recycling.
“We are investigating this incident with the individuals involved and will be taking the appropriate action, which may include disciplinary measures.
“Serco prides itself on delivering the highest standards of customer service and would like to apologise to local residents.
“We are taking steps to ensure this does not happen again and have agreed with the operators of the Materials Recycling Facility that additional steps will be taken to ensure that that all of these materials are recycled.”
