REFUSE collectors have slipped-up over a banana skin in another round over the farce of brown wheelie bins.But it is no joke for Peter Daldry, of Princethorpe Road, Ipswich, who was happy to go along with the Slim your Bin scheme organised by the borough council since the bin arrived almost a year ago.

REFUSE collectors have slipped-up over a banana skin in another round over the farce of brown wheelie bins.

But it is no joke for Peter Daldry, of Princethorpe Road, Ipswich, who was happy to go along with the Slim your Bin scheme organised by the borough council since the bin arrived almost a year ago.

However, last week Mr Daldry discovered that the bin-men had refused to empty it.

He said: "They put a card on the bin which said it was contaminated with kitchen waste. All that was in it were a banana skin and some apples that had fallen off the tree in my garden.

"I can't believe it. I have made compost for the garden all my life and I now what will rot and what won't. I could understand if they had seen meat in it, but this is ridiculous."

The idea of the scheme was to separate organic waste that would rot down into compost to save space at landfill sites.

Originally the council gave out small pedal bins to collect potato peelings and other vegetable waste from the kitchen to transfer to the brown bin along with garden waste.

But the scheme was later changed so that kitchen waste was no longer allowed.

Mr Daldry, 63, phoned the number on the card and after he explained the situation was told that the council would come to collect the next day.

He said: "It's infuriating that the council will have to make two trips to empty my bin. Council tax is so expensive and this is just such a waste of money. Bins are rejected a lot around Ipswich for this reason and I think it is absolutely ridiculous."

But a spokesman for the borough council said their hands were tied by red tape imposed by central government which classified fruit peelings as kitchen waste.

"We sympathise with people that have brown bins but following government legislation over health and safety issues we are no longer allowed to collect kitchen waste including fruit and vegetable peelings, only garden refuse," he said.

"We believe there is no substance to the governments claim and we are doing all we can to persuade civil servants to change their minds. To us it is Whitehall red tape and we are as frustrated as many of our residents."

Panel with byline pic – Keen gardener Mike Horne tells which household materials will decompose to make compost.

Home produced organic compost can be used to improve plant quality and soil structure and as a mulch to conserve water and protect plants from frost.

Any kind of kitchen waste except cooked meat is perfect for using in the compost bin.

Vegetable peelings, unwanted fruit, tea bags, kitchen roll and paper are ideal. If your soil already contains a high level of acidity then it is advisable not to compost citrus fruit.

Provided you mix the immaterial well, keep the compost bin covered and turn over once or twice to allow air in you should have useable, home-produce organic compost in six month depending on the time of year, saving yourself a small fortune in commercial products.