PORTISHEAD householders say they feel let down by waste collectors after the recycling they had carefully separated was tipped in together.

Clara Greed, of Redcliffe Bay, said: “I spend ages washing and squashing my food tins and separating the paper, glass and plastic so when I saw it all getting thrown in together I queried it with the collector who told me they didn’t have time to collect all the recycling separately that week. This is so discouraging.”

Wendy Smart, of Glebe Avenue, says she witnessed the same thing before Christmas and had felt extremely let down.

A council spokesman for the authority said: “There are occasions when there is so much recycling, for example after Christmas, when recycling may be co-mingled on the roadside to help speed up collections.

“We can assure residents that if this happens the items are sorted and do not get sent to landfill.

“Thanks go to our residents for recycling as much as they do - our recycling rate of 60 per cent is one of the highest in the country.”