A district councillor has defended St Albans’ confusing new recycling regime, saying the alternative is too awful to contemplate.

St Albans district council’s environment portfolio holder Cllr Daniel Chichester-Miles has responded to criticism in last week’s Herts Advertiser about the new scheme.

Green Party councillor Simon Grover said he had received a barrage of calls and emails about pieces of cardboard being ignored by the district’s waste collectors.

The council recently distributed plastic caddies for food waste as part of its campaign to boost recycling.

But under the new regime residents must put cardboard in with paper recycling boxes instead of their green waste bins.

There have been questions raised about the changes as residents have either not received information outlining the new system, or found it confusing.

Cllr Chichester-Miles admitted there have been a few cases where cardboard has not been collected because it was too big.

“Large sheets of cardboard can clog up the collection vehicle crushing mechanism. If residents flatten and tear their cardboard to the size of their recycling box, it will be collected.”

One resident complained to the councillor after seeing poor quality compost being spread upon local agricultural land, which was full of plastic from plastic-coated cardboard.

Cllr Chichester-Miles said: “This is not only environmentally harmful, but has in the past contributed to a very poor compost which is either unwelcome or ultimately unsuitable for use by farmers.

“I fully appreciate the difficulties some residents and bin crews may be facing getting to grips with the new regime, however the alternative is too awful to contemplate.”