Former binman Martin Johnson, 66, is furious about the bin situation (Picture: SWNS)
People were left furious as they watched binmen take all their carefully separated recycling and dump it into a single bin.
Residents living in Canterbury, Kent, filmed refuse workers combining glass, plastic, paper and cardboard on three occasions – despite the council saying it wouldn’t collect unseparated recycling.
Former binman Martin Johnson, 66, a ‘mockery’ is being made of people’s attempts at recycling by workers at Canenco, the council’s waste collection firm.
He said: ‘I am a very keen recycler because this is what the world wants us to do.
‘Obviously in my youth, it was no problem at all – but we are using up the Earth’s resources at a hell of a rate of knots and we need to do something to help the planet.
‘Having previously been an agency dustcart driver and knowing how things operate from the inside, I was dismayed by seeing it all go into one part of the truck.
‘I assume they take it to the recycling site and tip it up altogether.
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Residents living in Canterbury, Kent, filmed refuse workers combining glass, plastic, paper and cardboard on three occasions (Picture: SWNS)
‘I thought they would put the cardboard in one part of the truck and the rest in the other.
‘It made me so annoyed that I phoned them.’
Canterbury City Council last year announced ‘ramped-up’ checks on recycling after saying ‘irresponsible’ residents were putting the wrong items in the wrong bins.
It said more than 670 tonnes of contaminated recycling from the area had to be sent to landfill in 2021.
Residents in Canterbury are asked to put their paper and cardboard waste into red boxes, and their glass and plastic in blue bins.
Martin said he called the council to complain (Picture: SWNS)
He said a ‘mockery’ is being made of people’s attempts at recycling (Picture: SWNS)
Martin called the council to say he would no longer separate his recycling – but he was told it would not be collected if he did so.
He added: ‘I told her they will, as that’s what they’re doing anyway. At the time, we didn’t have the proof but now we have the videos.
‘It makes me furious. It makes a mockery of our diligence in separating it all.’
City Council spokesperson Rob Davies said the videos were being investigated.
He added: ‘Clearly it is not acceptable for this to happen when residents have spent their time carefully separating their recycling.
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‘We thank Mr Johnson for making us aware of these incidents and apologise to him.
‘We can reassure Mr Johnson that this will be fully investigated and appropriate action is taken.’
Last year a video filmed in Fulham, London, showed bags of recycling being repeatedly thrown into a refuse lorry alongside general waste.
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‘It makes me furious. It makes a mockery of our diligence in separating it all.’