A KEEN recycler was shocked to be told binmen had refused to collect her waste as it contained the wrong kind of plastic.

Alison James-Herbert was later contacted by her local authority and told her council issued purple sack had been left behind as it contained soft plastics – but it was only then the authority updated its website to make clear products such as cling film and polystyrene aren’t collected at the kerbside.

Mrs James-Herbert said she keeps a watchful eye on her household waste to ensure she and her husband follow instructions and sort rubbish and recyclables into the correct bags.

But after refuse crews had completed their Friday rounds she was stunned to see her purple sack for plastics hadn’t been unloaded.

“I contacted my councillor who came back to me and said it wasn’t collected because it had the wrong waste, but I hadn’t put anything other than plastic in it,” said the Caldicot resident.

“On the Monday I then had a note through the door that said I’d put soft plastics in the bag, but plastic is plastic.

“Apparently the council had six men going through the waste looking for soft plastic. My friend was absolutely fuming, she rang the council and was told ‘you should look at the website’. But who’s got time for that?”

However at the time Monmouthshire County Council’s website didn’t state soft plastics weren’t acceptable.

Under a heading of what items could go in red and purple bags it stated the purple bag is for food and drink cans as well as plastic bottles, plastic punnets/ready meal trays and aluminum foil/kitchen foil but no crisp packets.

Since Mrs James-Herbert contacted the council it has updated its website and it now states clearly: “We cannot currently recycle ‘soft plastics’: crisp packets, plastic bags, cling film and polystyrene. You can recycle some of these items at specialist collection points throughout the county.”

Following her contact with the council she said she was also surprised to learn people were advised to take soft plastics to supermarkets for recycling, and she understood the nearest was in Newport.

She said: “Elderly people can’t be expected to take their rubbish on a bus to Newport.”

A spokesman for Monmouthshire council said “education wardens” have been looking for non-recyclable “contaminants such as plastic film” to support its roll-out of reusable recycling bags.

They added: “These contaminants have to be removed in the sorting process, which lessens the quality of the recyclate and increases costs to the authority. Bags with small amounts of contaminants have continued to be collected, but bags with significant levels of contaminants have not been collected, and guidance letters have been given to householders.

“The authority has updated the website to provide clear guidance, and we plan to update further recycling reminders via our social media channels.”

Only a select few plastic types are widely collected and recycled from households. Aside from the commonly collected plastics and household waste, other plastics are recyclable, however they may require more specific action.