Recycling: can we trust our councils?

Like all good upright citizens I invest time in trying to recycle as much as possible, including separating out various types of waste which the council deems incompatible. In Richmond, this means putting envelopes and paper into different receptacles, which I forgave as they also take kitchen waste which seemed like a good step.

I was really pleased when Richmond recently expanded its scheme to cover plastic bottles and cardboard (about time too). So, imagine my disappointment when they missed the collection due to "serious over-demand" - apparently there was 20% more recycling than normal, I mean how could anyone have predicted that! Our recycling sat on the pavement for over a week getting soggy. Eventually some bin men arrived, threw everything into the normal bin and put it all in the back of a normal rubbish truck. I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. When asked the council what was going on, they said:

In order to deal with [extra demand], we are collecting some of our
recycling in refuse vehicles which can compact it. The 'co-mingled'
recycling is then taken to a special recycling facility in Greenwich and
separated for recycling. Please do not be concerned, it is still being
recycled and will not end up in a landfill site.

I thought this sounded a bit suspicious. The real story was uncovered after tireless journalism from the local paper, who found that [at least] three lorry loads of recycling materials had been taken to landfill by the council's contractors, just days after the borough's environment chief had described the claims as a myth.

It's enough to make me put my envelopes in with the potato peelings in disgust.