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Video: Michael Bishop's footage shows bin men in
one part of Margate throwing recycling into a truck full of
household waste. Thanet council says the bags were
contaminated.

by Martin
Jefferies

An eagle-eyed resident caused a stink
when he secretly filmed Thanet council bin men throwing bags full
of recycling into a refuse truck for landfill sacks.

Michael Bishop's video footage shows
waste being collected outside flats off the High Street,
Margate.

At least eight blue bin bags, which
residents are asked to fill with recyclable materials, are piled
onto a council dustcart, together with dozens of black sacks
containing non-reusable items.

According to the council's website, the contents of the truck
would then have been emptied at a landfill site near
Canterbury.

Mr Bishop, who also posted his video on the social networking
website Facebook, said: "I've grown tired of the council's
recycling promises so I decided to film them doing the dirty on
everyone who carefully separated and cleaned their recycling, only
for it to be thrown into landfill."

Thanet council insisted that blue sacks are only taken alongside
household waste when the recycling has been contaminated or put out
late.

Contamination can occur when items such as glass, food and
plastics are placed in recycling bags. In Thanet, these bags can
only contain paper and cardboard, although residents with wheelie
bins can also recycle tins, cans and plastic bottles from their
doorsteps.

A spokesman for the authority said: "The video highlights the
issue that the council has with contaminated waste and we urgently
need residents to use the waste and recycling services correctly in
order for them to be most effective.

"Properties in this area have been sent information in three
different languages in an effort to resolve this issue. We have
also door-knocked thousands of residents who are provided with any
type of recycling service to highlight the importance of using the
correct waste collections."

• For more news from the Thanet area, visit www.thanetextra.co.uk