Claims that some of Hounslow residents' recyclable rubbish was taken to landfill on the second day of the new scheme have been strongly denied by council chiefs.
Peter Lane, of Carrington Avenue, Hounslow, watched the special new SITA recycling lorries visit his street last Monday and take away all the containers loaded with plastic recyclables but leave the others untouched.
The following day a standard, open-top flatbed lorry came down the street and the binmen proceeded to throw all the remaining carefully sorted glass and paper rubbish in together.
"My neighbours and I think it's outrageous," said 60-year-old Mr Lane.
"I spoke to the driver and he said they had been told to just consider it normal household waste and it was being taken to the landfill.
"I couldn't believe it. Why did it get left behind anyway?
"It makes me wonder why we are bothering to follow all these rules and doing all this sorting if this is what the council are going to do."
A spokeswoman for the council rebuffed the residents' claims saying: "It was our first week and we had some teething problems, however the waste management team say that all the rubbish collected on the Tuesday, that was left behind, was taken to the recycling plant for sorting and not to a landfill."
All residents in the borough should now have received their new containers for plastics, food waste, garden waste and paper with the plan for nearly 70 per cent of all household waste to be recycled.
Green garden waste and plastics will be collected on alternate weeks and everything else will be collected weekly.
Leader of the council, Peter Thompson, said: "As part of our vision Building Pride Borough Wide, one of our top 10 promises was to introduce a home collection service for household plastic packaging and food waste. We are now delivering on this promise, making it even easier for you to recycle more."
For more information about the council's waste and recycling services, visit www.hounslow.gov.uk/recycling or call 020 8583 5555.
