The CCTV footage from outside Susan McKenna's apartment building is very clear.
A worker wheels a red-lidded 660-litre rubbish bin on to the back of a rubbish truck, and watches as plastic bags are dumped in.
Then he repeats the process, with a 660-litre yellow-lidded recycling bin.
Cardboard boxes and other materials are crushed — in the same truck as the rubbish, to be taken to landfill.
Susan McKenna said she watched it happen every week from her apartment in Melbourne's south-east.
"I was shocked," she said of when she first realised the waste was all being mixed together.
"I can't believe in this day and age when people are so diligent about recycling that all their efforts are literally going to waste."
When non-recyclable items end up in recycling bins, it often condemns all of the material to landfill.
Ms McKenna said the waste contractor — who she does not want to name — told her there were high levels of rubbish contaminating the recycling bins at her apartment.
But she said she had never seen the waste disposal workers check the contents of the bins.
They regularly only sent one truck to the building, she said.
A spokesperson from the company said the waste collectors usually tried their best but faced the huge issue of contamination in apartment buildings.
"You can't make people care," the spokesperson said.
"Everyone wants to point the finger at the waste companies but we're bound by what's out there."
Ms McKenna said she was worried the issue could be more widespread.
Private waste contractors collect the rubbish and recycling for an increasing number of Melbourne's apartment buildings and businesses, instead of council-funded services, including at Ms McKenna's home.
"What's the point in having targets and quotas for recycling if private companies can operate outside them?" Ms McKenna said.
The problem, she said, was that no-one seemed to be doing anything about it.
Council has 'no authority'
Outraged at the disposal of her apartment building's waste, Ms McKenna contacted her local council, Glen Eira.
It told her the council's job was to sign off on the building's waste management plan, including making sure the building had enough space for various bins.
Mayor Jim Magee told the ABC the council could not do anything about potential issues with collection at Ms McKenna's apartment building as it was a private contract.
"There's no governing rules, we've got no authority over them, we can't impose penalties or restrictions over them," he said.
He wrote to the environment minister in February, calling for the state government to intervene.
"I think legislation is the only thing, because community runs on rules," he said.
He has not received a reply.
Minister Ingrid Stitt told the ABC "Victorians have every right to expect that waste contractors will do the right thing with their recycling".
Suzanne Toumbourou, chief executive of the Australian Council of Recycling, said she did not believe there were widespread instances of recyclables not taken to be recycled.
"However, in the exceptional circumstances where that does occur, it is noticed. And that does really undermine people's confidence in the recycling system," she said.
"And that may then have a consequence for how people behave in their own recycling context."
'Significant gaps' identified in recent years
The waste sector widely acknowledges recycling in Multi Unit Developments, or MUDs, is a big problem — and it's growing.
Census data shows 12.1 per cent of Victorians live in a flat or apartment, an increase from 11.6 per cent in 2016.
A 2019 Auditor-General report found "significant gaps" in waste management regulation, particularly in MUDs, which are mostly not serviced by council waste collections.
"While councils can influence how much space new MUDs allocate for waste infrastructure through the planning process, they currently do not require new or existing MUDs that are serviced by commercial operators to offer comingled and organics recycling services," the report found.
"Most MUDs have only one waste collection service — for landfill."
Sustainability Victoria found household recycling bins had a contamination rate of about 13 per cent in 2019-20, down from about 15 per cent the previous year.
That figure does not include apartments with private waste collection. Industry sources say the contamination rate there is much higher.
Ms Toumbourou said MUDs were "a little bit of a pain point" and said body corporates could have a bigger role to play in encouraging recycling.
Multi-million-dollar recycling overhaul won't cover private collection
Victoria's recycling system is in the process of a $129-million overhaul, including a four-bin kerbside recycling system and a long-awaited container deposit scheme.
The state's new waste and recycling regulator, Recycling Victoria, is developing its first service standard to apply to local councils for household collection.
It will not cover private waste collection.
The head of Recycling Victoria Tony Circelli said in a statement that residents expected their recycling efforts to be dealt with correctly.
"As the waste and recycling services regulator, Recycling Victoria is working with councils and service providers to ensure that community expectations are met," he said.
"All parts of the community and economy have a part to play in waste avoidance, re-use and recycling."
In South Australia, recyclable materials including cardboard and hard plastics are banned from landfill, to encourage recycling, but that is not the case in Victoria.
'This is happening too often'
The spokesperson from the waste company said there were many factors making collection complicated, including different recycling standards in different council areas and increases in Victoria's waste levy, which had to be passed on.
"It costs to be green, it costs to do the right thing, and a lot of people don't have the money to do that in this environment," they said.
Jeff Angel, from the environmental group Boomerang Alliance, said there was "a lot of leakage in the system".
"This is happening too often for it not to be seen as a systemic problem," he said.
"I think everyone is passing the buck and we need an independent intervention to break up the cycle of inadequate collections and stop wasting good recyclables."
He said an independent assessment of the problem would help restore community confidence in recycling.
