A frustrated homeowner has hit out after a binman was caught on camera dumping a food waste caddy straight into a general waste bin. <br /><br />The man who had his bins mixed in Maidstone, Kent has now questioned what the point in him "religiously" separating his waste is.<br /><br />A council probe has been launched.<br /><br />In the footage, a binman is seen tipping out the contents of the small food waste bin into a wheelie bin before taking it towards the lorry. <br /><br />Residents in Kent have suffered from a lack of bin collections over the past few months, following a new multi-million-pound contract for refuse collection was rolled out across the county. <br /><br />The Maidstone resident who filmed his bins being mixed - who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of his bins not being collected in the future - fumed: “I religiously separate my food waste from the rest and put it out each time...<br /><br />"But what is the point if they immediately mix it up again?”<br /><br />“I did get a brief look at the back of the refuse lorry and it did look as though it didn’t have a separate slot for food waste, so perhaps the binman had no alternative.<br /><br />“But that is not the service that the council is supposed to be providing.”<br /><br />Maidstone Borough Council, one of the three local authorities comprising the Mid-Kent Waste Partnership, which signed SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK for the new waste disposal contract earlier this year, said it was investigating the 'unacceptable' incident. <br /><br />A spokesman said: “The council is aware of an incident of unacceptable waste collection practice in Loose Road. <br /><br />"This will now lead to a full investigation of the crew member by SUEZ, as their employer.”<br /><br />The authority has previously apologised for the inconveniences the new SUEZ contract has caused whilst crews learn their new routes. <br /><br />Missed bin collections continue to wreak havoc across Kent.<br /><br />After the May elections in Maidstone, a Green and Lib Dem coalition took control of the council - but the problem has not gone away.
