Firefighters are not being allowed to recycle their rubbish, because the council won't pick up from their station.
Empty packaging created by almost 80 firefighters is still being put in landfill sites.
Dozens of plastic bottles, glass, and tin cans are used and emptied every day by caterers and crews at Colchester's permanently-manned station in Catchpool Road - then thrown in the bin.
Council chiefs - who are trying to meet targets for domestic recycling - say the rubbish can't be collected because the station is deemed a "commercial premises".
One astonished firefighter said the ruling was "madness".
He said waste generated by the crews then recycled would do a lot to help Colchester Council realise it's dream of becoming "the cleanest, greenest borough in the county".
Piles of paper and cardboard are allowed to be recycled from commercial sites.
But council waste managers confirmed commercial premises - including hospitals - do not have plastics, tins or cans collected.
Dave McManus, waste and transport manager, said: "At the moment we don't have collection for commercial premises, but that is not unique to Colchester.
"The Government directive now is to ask councils to look at recycling systems for commercial premises, so that is something we are doing."
- More in today's Gazette
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