Binmen have been filmed mixing general waste with recycling on a residential street in High Wycombe.

Footage taken in October shows workers emptying communal black rubbish bins into the same lorry as red mixed recycling bins.

Buckinghamshire Council said an investigation of the case showed Veolia, which holds a multimillion-pound waste collection contract with the authority, had ‘followed the correct process’ in emptying bins containing the wrong materials.

However, the man who took the video said: “What’s the point in residents taking time and effort to sort their waste if the waste collection company is just going to treat everything as general waste?”

Speaking to the Bucks Free Press, the resident, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed his video did not just show a ‘one-off’.

Bins on his street have apparently been mixed multiple times during collections since the start of September.

He said: “I am not entirely convinced by the council’s response and it’s kind of a hand-waving response that no one can really verify.

“On what I’ve seen, whenever they were emptying recycling bins with general waste bins at the same time, for them to have all had the same issues at the same time seems a little hard to believe.”

The resident said refuse workers were disposing of all waste ‘wholesale’ week after week despite there being three separate refuse collections listed on the rota for his area for the three different bin types on the council website.

The man lodged a complaint with the council, but was told it had been closed after being forwarded to Veolia.

He added: “It feels like one of those things where it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. It undermines the point of recycling. Because we can do our part but somewhere along the chain, we don’t know what happens to it.

“We have to just take it that it is being recycled. What I think I saw was definitely one of those things that shakes your faith.”

The council was asked about the evidence showing recycling and general waste were being mixed and whether this undermined the efforts people make to recycle waste properly.

Thomas Broom, the council’s cabinet member for climate change and environment, said: “We’ve investigated this case and found that our waste contractor Veolia has followed the correct process in emptying recycling bins with incorrect materials in them.”

He said communal recycling bins containing incorrect materials were collected separately to ‘maintain the quality of recycling in the vehicles’.

Cllr Broom added: “We cannot ask communal properties to remove the incorrect items as this would not be practical and leaving the bins unemptied is also not an option. In this case, our collection crew reported that the recycling bin was contaminated, and it was then emptied by our refuse team.

“To address this issue going forward, we will write to the residents at this block of flats with information on what items can and can’t go in their recycling bins.”