A clampdown on second bins has provoked uproar in Dalbeattie.
Residents in the Craigmath area with two general waste bins put them out to be emptied last week.
But they were stunned when a tag was put on one of the bins telling them it would no longer be collected.
Craigmath resident Janice Walker, who was contacted by concerned locals, said: “They have put a red and white sticker on the handle saying they are not going to lift the second bin if there are less than six people in a household.
“We have had no warning – you’d think they’d put a letter through the door about it.
“A lassie phoned the council about it and they said it was council policy unless you had health issues that meant you needed a second bin.
“If you run out of space, you can put up to 10 black bin bags out every fortnight and it’ll cost you £13.60.
“In the recession folk are hard up, who has £13.60 every fortnight? What do we pay our council tax for?”
Ms Walker is also concerned that the extra bags will lead to problems with rats and foxes and pointed out people with no car will be unable to take their extra rubbish to the household waste site.
She added: “It’s not fair on the vulnerable. If you have two folk in a property with the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s it’s confusing for them as it is, so why put more pressure on someone like that?
“Is it not going to give the refuse collectors more work because of the extra bags? And what kind of weight are you allowed in these bags - if they’re too heavy are they going to lift them?”
A council spokesman said tagging “unauthorised bins” was introduced in 2018 and efforts have been ramped up recently due to the introduction of in-cab technology.
It is believed there are around 3,500 second bins and those using them “almost, without exception” are not recycling.
Bins are tagged as that is the approved process, is cost-effective and can be carried out easily by crews.
The spokesman said: “The second bins will be removed and reused for other households e.g. a replacement when a bin becomes damaged. This reduces cost to the council in having to purchase replacement bins.
“With a kerbside recycling service of dry recyclates – paper, card, cans, plastics and cartons, there is no reason why households that recycle require any more capacity in the residual waste bin than is currently provided.
“The vast majority of households in the region are recycling and our recycling rates rose more than 10 per cent between 2020 and 2021, with a further increase expected once figures for 2022 are published. Unauthorised second bins discourage recycling thus increasing costs for the council.
“For those households unable to contain all their residual waste bin on a fortnightly collection frequency basis they can either take excess waste to a household waste recycling centre or they can pay for a bulky uplift.”
