Croydon Council have defended their recycling policy after they were caught sending recyclable materials to landfill for a second time.

Eight months ago the Croydon Guardian revealed paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, plastic containers and paper cups were all being thrown out by the council into its landfill bins at its main office, Taberner House.

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The Croydon Guardian's original front page exclusive in October 2012

A source from within the refuse services said there was still a large amount of recyclable materials being put in general waste.

The insider said: "If anything it has got worse. There is recyclable goods getting put into landfill every day. Nothing has been done.

"If anything it has got worse. I would like to hear what has been done to stop this."

The Croydon Guardian visited the council bins and found recyclable materials such as paper and plastic bottles were still being put in the general waste bins.

Your Local Guardian:

Bag full of plastic bottles and other recyclable materials.

Croydon Council defended their recycling record, saying their weekly recycling rate rose from 400 to nearly 1,500 bags per week since they launched an in-house campaign to encourage staff to put rubbish in the right bins.

A council spokesman said: "We take recycling very seriously and all of our porters and waste collection teams know that if they see items in the wrong bin they should deal with this immediately and bring it to the attention of a manager.

"We’ve had no such concerns raised with us and so can only assume that this is an isolated incident."