AN ANGRY resident has said she saw bin crews tip contents from two separate containers into the same one- which she said is both a waste of time and money.

But a Wycombe District Council spokesman has reassured residents their effort is worthwhile and the waste is kept separately.

WDC introduced its new waste service at the end of October but has had a number of teething problems. Sandra Baker from Oakwood in Flackwell Heath said she has been carefully separating her food waste from her general waste.

The compostable waste then goes into a small brown bin to be collected and the other non-recyclable waste goes in the black bin.

But she said she was horrified to see bin workers tip the compostable waste in with the general waste.

Mrs Baker said: "It makes me so angry. I have been so careful and I have bought compostable bags, which aren't cheap.

"I might as well not have bothered."

But Sue Robinson, spokesman for WDC, said: "A few people have been in touch with us to ask about this, because it looks as if their carefully separated waste is being mixed up by the crews as they come round to collect. This is not the case. Our crews collect food waste by tipping the brown bin contents into a crew bin which happens to be black.

"All the food waste from the crew bin is then put into the food waste compartment on the collection lorry. The waste is kept separate throughout the collection and also at our depot. Working in this way using the crew bin means that our teams can collect food waste from the brown containers quickly and easily."

Meanwhile over at Brantridge Lane in Bourne End residents at five houses had been waiting for six weeks to have their rubbish collected.

Sally Williams said: "Every time someone phoned- the council were quite helpful and said they will get onto it.

"But then nothing happened."

The council then said it only had one complaint from the residents but Mrs Williams knew her daughter had rung at least eight times, and other residents had called too.

Mrs Robinson said: "We are aware that there have been some issues for the five properties at Brantridge Lane where these properties originally received wheeled bins in error. A member of the Waste Team visited Brantridge Lane and resolved this by putting them on to sack \and reusable bag collections due to the narrowness of the lane.

"We apologise if collections have not been taking place for these properties. This has now been escalated to the Serco management team and they will endeavour to clear any outstanding waste and to ensure that those residents receive a regular collection."