Recycling at a care home in Cheam is being dumped in with the general waste on the instructions of a waste management company, one social care worker has reported.

Andrius, who works at a care home on York Road in Cheam, told the Sutton Guardian that he repeatedly saw waste collection workers dumping recycling that he and his colleagues had carefully set aside in with the general waste when it was collected.

On querying the workers about what they were doing, and why, Andrius recalled that they told him their employers Veolia had instructed them to do so.

"I work at a small care home in Cheam. Over the last few weeks they have been emptying the recycling in with the other waste.

"They said 'oh, we have been told that, because of a shortage of drivers, we were told to do so'.

"They added that they had been told to do this for the last five months or so," Andrius added. "It's not right."

His allegations surfaced as both Sutton and Croydon councils admitted they would have to burn recycling materials in the coming weeks due to a shortage of drivers brought on, they said, by the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit.

Three south London councils including Sutton are part of the South London Waste Partnership which is managed by contractor Veolia. 

The Sutton Guardian contacted Veolia about Andrius's claims, who apologised over the situation.

A spokesperson said: 

"Following an investigation into this matter, we can confirm that our commercial services contract with the Jesmund Nursing Home is to collect general waste only.  We are ensuring all our collection crews are aware that this is the case and apologise for any confusion caused.

"We will be contacting the nursing home to review the bins they have on site and ensure they are correctly labelled, to avoid confusion in the future.  We will also discuss the customer's recycling requirements and any changes that need to be made to their contract to ensure these can be fulfilled."