A family who pay £55 to the council for bin collection, have been left frustrated after discovering their neighbours' waste had been picked up for free.
The neighbours had chosen not to pay the mandatory fee to the council yet were still benefiting from the scheme by having their rubbish collected.
The Marlow resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: "I noticed that quite a few of my neighbours get their green bins collected, as do I, but when I spoke to one person about it, they said they were not paying for the service but were used to getting their garden waste collected for free.
"I'm happy to pay the £55 each year, but if my neighbour can get their bin emptied for free, why am I paying?"
The council's scheme required those who had paid the fee to put a sticker on their bins, indicating it was valid for collection
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The Marlow local signed up to the council’s scheme which supplied paying residents with stickers that they needed to be put on their bins in order for them to be collected.
When they noticed that bins without stickers were being collected, the disgruntled resident soon contacted the council to complain.
"When I found out that other people were getting the service that I was paying for free of charge, I contacted the council and told them I wasn't happy,” they said.
"Then, two weeks later, I received an email to say that the situation had been dealt with - I checked, and my neighbour's bin had been emptied again.
"It has now happened three times since I first phoned the council. This is a problem that should be very easily dealt with, all they need to do is just empty the bins that have a sticker on them."
The resident believes this issue to be a prevalent one all throughout Buckinghamshire.
Their neighbour told them that they were not paying the council for waste collection but were still having their bins emptied, leaving the Marlow resident frustrated.
They contacted the council six weeks ago but the resident claims that nothing has changed.
The resident suspects this problem is going on across all of Buckinghamshire
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They said: "The worst thing is that it feels like you aren't being listened to. I've done the decent thing by phoning them and letting them know, and they haven't done anything about it.
"I'm paying the council for a service at the end of the day and I deserve to have a voice."
Jilly Jordan, Deputy Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment of Buckinghamshire Council, said: “Refuse crews check that green bins are displaying the appropriate sticker to show they are subscribed to the green waste collection service, but very occasionally bins not displaying a sticker may be emptied by mistake, if left for collection.”
She asked residents who do not pay for the service to avoid putting their bins out on collection day to avoid confusion.
