A FAMILY are demanding to know whether the city council recycle all the waste they claim to.

It comes after Tracey and David Hall, of St Margaret's Close, Ingol, witnessed binmen mixing recycling rubbish with the regular collection.

Now the family want proof that their waste is actually being recycled, and not just being swept under the carpet.

Tracey said: "How do we know they're recycling that stuff? They're supposed to be taking the stuff from the blue bins for recycling. How do we know they're not just dumping it in landfill sites?"

The council insists that what the Hall family witnessed was a one-off and not typical of the city's policy on refuge collection.

Mum-of-two Tracey, 37, was looking out for the regular recycling lorry when she spotted an old-fashioned bin wagon.

Tracey, a Red Cross worker, said: "There were men walking up putting the stuff out of blue recycling boxes into the grey bins.

"I thought that was strange so I stood at the window watching. Every blue bin they just emptied out into the grey bins and put back onto the floor."

She said that half-an-hour later a lorry came and took the grey bins away.

The two bin and box system was rolled out nearly two years ago when the council said they hoped to get households to recycle more than 50 per cent of their rubbish.

Blue boxes are for glass, food and drinks cans, textiles and newspapers. A brown bin is for garden waste, uncooked fruit and vegetables, and the grey bins are for regular household waste.

David, 36, said: "If Preston City Council are actually recycling I would like to see that they are. If they're doing that for us, then what are they doing in the rest of the city."

But Councillor Andy Campbell, cabinet member for environment and sustainability, denied anything sinister was going on. He said: "There was a problem with the main van that day. The yellow van had to be sent out."

But he admitted that not all items left for recycling could be re-used. He said: "Sometimes we have to reject loads if they're contaminated. The men have to get a balance between recycling and binning the whole lot.

"People don't like to have to wash their cans. If the men find there is dog food or whatever still in the can they will reject it.

"Then they will try and put it in the grey bin to be picked up."

Frank Kennedy, regional spokesman for Friends of the Earth, said: "The council should show they are doing the job probably by organising some guided visits to the recycling plants."