LANCASHIRE residents said they had nothing to hide after it was revealed council staff had been secretly sifting through people’s rubbish.

It emerged yesterday that Lancashire County Council had been removing bags from wheelie bins and taking them away as part of an audit.

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The audit cost £70,000, with a number of council staff collecting 400 bags, then analysing the contents to identify ‘waste patterns’.

When the move emerged, critics described it as both a ‘gross invasion of privacy’ and ‘sneaky’.

The majority of residents the Lancashire Telegraph surveyed in Accrington yesterday said they had no problem.

However, a few agreed with critics and said the contents of their bin bags were personal.

With residents’ permission, we checked through black bin bags of six householders.

Most of the residents were recycling so only food waste was in the bags.

One of those residents, Gordon Schofield, 59, of Willows Lane, Accrington, said: “I don’t see the problem with council workers looking through my bin.

“I have nothing to hide.These people are only doing their job, so how else will they find out if people aren’t recycling?

“If you put your rubbish out, surely you don’t care who looks inside your bin. Confidential waste should be shredded so the council are free to do what they want.”

One critics said he still felt most people would be ‘dead against it’.

Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, added: “Most want their bins collecting promptly and regularly, not being rooted through by officials who are acting as nosey parkers.”