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Binmen threw batteries in hedge, says councillor

Getty Images Bag full of recycling in overflowing binGetty Images
There are claims council binmen mixed waste after it had been segregated

A row has erupted after a video of council binmen throwing recyclable batteries in residents' hedges allegedly emerged.

The claim was made during an exchange on Denbighshire council’s recycling scheme roll out at a meeting in Ruthin this week amid complaints of missed collections.

One councillor accused the cabinet of incompetence before making the claim about council recycling staff, which the council said it was investigating.

Denbighshire's council leader said things were getting better, with missed collections now standing at 232 out of 46,000 households.

When weekly pick-ups of stackable recycling bins - known as trolibocs - began in Denbighshire on 3 June, thousands of homes were bypassed.

Residents aired their frustration on social media, calling the new council's recycling system a "shambles" and "a joke".

Llangollen independent councillor Karen Edwards told the meeting she had "received video evidence from my ward of operatives simply dumping segregated batteries in a resident’s hedge, which has happened in the last fortnight".

"Recently we have also seen video footage doing the rounds on social media platforms of operatives co-mingling segregated waste while standing on the top of a cab roof throwing it into a caged vehicle," she said.

Getty Images/Denbighshire Council Recycling boxes stacked in new systemGetty Images/Denbighshire Council
Householders have to separate recyclables into different boxes under the new scheme

After the meeting, a council spokeswoman said: "We are aware of a video circulating on social media and are conducting a thorough investigation into the matter.

"There are some days where a small number of properties, especially those who have suffered from repeated missed collection, are still receiving a co-mingled collection."

She added this was done using a cage vehicle.

The spokeswoman said the co-mingled waste was kept separate to the food wherever possible and that the co-mingled recycling was sent to a processor for separation and recycling, as would have happened under the previous collection model.

“There is a desire to stop all co-mingled collections but when there is no other option to get the waste off the street, we occasionally do still have to collect co-mingled recycling," she said.