You’d Have To Have A Heart Of Stone…

Carol Noman, 63, of Greygarth Close, north Bransholme, chased after her bin crew after they refused to empty her blue bin.

She said: "I recycle religiously and was quite angry when they just left my bin out in the street.

"I ran after them and one of the crew just laughed at me and said it was because I had put some black bags in.

"I've always used black bags in the house to collect everything to go in the blue bin.

"No one sent me a letter explaining the new rules. Now I've got to go another fortnight before the next collection."

Oh dear, did you think your Shield Of Righteous Recycling would protect you – and only you – against the Arrows Of Bureaucratic Intransigence?

Well, cheer up. You weren’t the only one:

George Porte, 61, also discovered his blue bin had been left behind after he put out the recycling.

Mr Porte, of St George's Grove, west Hull, said: "When my blue bin wasn't emptied, I rang up to find out why.

"The girl asked me if I ever put crisp packets in. I told her I did and she said that was why it had not been collected.

"Just because I put the odd crisp packet in seems a bit of a trivial reason not to empty my bin because I always try to recycle what I can.

"What is more annoying is that we didn't get any notice of this from the council."

You can almost feel their baffled rage, can’t you? ‘No, this can’t happen to me, surely? – I rolled over when the council told me to, why are they picking on me, and not those other people, the ones who don’t recycle at all?’

Doug Sharp, the council's assistant head of waste, said: "We are sending letters out to households in advance of their next blue bin collection, explaining what can no longer be placed in the bins.

"I apologise if people haven't received any notification beforehand and I can understand it must be annoying for people who are committed to recycling to find their blue bin has not been emptied."

But you don’t really care, Doug, do you? Because just like an abusive husband, you know they’ll stay with you, and try to get things right this time, to ward off the blows they never saw coming.

They’ll never leave, or stand up for themselves and fight back…

He admitted the new rules would upset some people but he said: "We know that most residents are committed recyclers and are trying to do the right thing.

"Our aim is to reduce the most significant problems and reduce overall contamination by raising awareness."

Before or after, it doesn’t much matter. You’ve got a compliant partner who'll put up with any abuse, haven't you?