Ealing’s Liberal Democrats leader is fed up of receiving complaints about the borough’s recycling service and says ‘enough is enough’.

Councillor Gary Malcolm said in the past six months he has had a lot more complaints from residents about missed collections by the council’s recycling and refuse contractors Amey, including the same people who have contacted him a number of times.

He said he is also getting increasingly large volumes of cases where all items are being thrown into one vehicle rather than separate.

Mr Malcolm said: “ Amey were bought out by Enterprise in 2012. The recycling rate is higher than it was before but that’s because more things can be recycled.

“Residents have had such a bad experience of missed collections that they have given up and that’s not a good way to do a service. I have had far too many people in the last year saying I’m not recycling anymore.

“I’m being told everything gets chucked into vehicles whether you have sorted them out or not.

“I just think enough is enough. It seems council officers do not know what is going on in their own streets.”

The Lib Dem leader said St Albans Avenue between Chiswick and Acton and Fairlawn Grove in Acton Green are two examples of streets which he has received complaints from

A spokesman from Amey said: “Amey is working closely with Ealing Council to improve collection services for local residents.

“We very rarely have to mix recyclable waste but when this does happen it is usually due to mechanical failure on another collection vehicle. In these instances we do collect the recyclables together as this allows the collections service to continue.

“We would like to assure residents that the collected recyclable material does not go to landfill, but is taken to a Materials Reclamation Facility where it is sorted and sent off for further recycling.”

An Ealing Council spokeswoman said they will continue to push Amey to bring the service up to the standard they expect.

She added: “We are making it easier for residents to recycle, for example by expanding food, cardboard and plastics recycling services in flats. We are also increasing the number of clothes and textiles recycling banks, as well as WEEE banks for people to recycle small electrical items, and have introduced more recycling bins in our parks.”