When Ashleigh Thomas discovered her wheelie bin was missing, her first thought was that it had been stolen.

Eastern Daily Press: Ashleigh Thomas' recycling bin was swallowed by a refuse lorry in Dereham. Picture: Ashleigh ThomasAshleigh Thomas' recycling bin was swallowed by a refuse lorry in Dereham. Picture: Ashleigh Thomas (Image: Archant)

But after reviewing the footage from her Ring doorbell, Miss Thomas and her partner had a shock.

For, not content with taking just the recycling rubbish from inside, the wheelie hungry refuse lorry swallowed the bin whole.

The 26-year-old, who lives on The Scarning in Dereham, said she thought she was “going mad” when she could not find her bin.

“I hadn’t really noticed it myself,” said Miss Thomas. “My partner came home at around 4.30pm and asked where I put the bin. I assumed it was put at the back gate out of sight.

“He went searching the streets to see if anyone else had taken our bin.

“I asked him to take a look at our Ring doorbell to see exactly the last time it was in front of our house. We then noticed the bin actually got thrown into the lorry.”

The footage captured on the doorbell camera shows the workers wheeling the bin to the refuse lorry and the arms lifting it up.

Once tipped in the air, the bin can be seen tumbling into the back of the lorry with one of the workers saying “that’s gone”.

Miss Thomas said: “My partner was a bit annoyed about it but I found it funny personally. However I was confused on where we were going to put our recycling now.

“I’d actually sent [the footage] to my mum and her partner and he said to put it on the Dereham and community site as a lot of people will find that funny, so I did.

“We all could do with a laugh or even a little chuckle during these times. It was too good not to share.”

The couple have since had to put their recycling into black bags outside their home and take some to the tip.

A spokesperson for Breckland Council said: “Our bins lorries are incredibly efficient when it comes to shaking waste out of resident bins, but on this occasion it was possibly too efficient.

“We are terribly sorry that this has happened, however we have made contact and arranged for a replacement bin to be sent out to the resident.”