AN OUTRAGED recycler has taken a screwdriver to her council-issued composting bin and prised off the attached electronic "bug".

Janice Elton was furious when she read in the papers councils were putting electronic devices on recycling bins to find out how much use people were making of them.

But it was only when she saw a letter in last week's News Shopper from a Welling woman about a device attached to her bin, did she realise it was going on in Bexley.

She said: "I went out and looked at my composting bin and found the device - a little disc about an inch across - under the rim, so I chiselled it off with a screwdriver and threw it away."

Miss Elton, of Days Lane, Sidcup, then rang Bexley Council's refuse department.

She said: "At first they thought I was talking about an insect, when I said a bug'. But then they denied any knowledge of it."

The 40-year-old is angry the council has not told people it is monitoring their rubbish.

She added: "How dare they. I consider it an intrusion into my private life.

"They don't know anything about people's lives unless they fit into neat little boxes."

Miss Elton also questioned the value of monitoring compost bins.

The researcher said: "We only use it for large tree branches. Some people compost all their own rubbish and others have paved over their gardens and don't have anything for the compost bin.

"I consider myself to be a good recycler but often the council won't take certain things and it never explains why not."

A council spokesman said the bug only monitors whether or not the bin is being emptied regularly and not what is in it.

She added: "Bins often get mixed up during collection so we do not and cannot monitor what an individual household is doing.

She explained the bugs only went "live" in July and said the council had been quite open about their existence.

She added: "We hope the data will enable us to target areas which would benefit from advice and encouragement on how and when to use the bins."