"The introduction of a third bin for residual waste should further improve the situation."

This is an email that I have sent to Councillor Gary Parker.

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Hi,

Well the new black bins have, as you promised, been delivered to Floyd Road and after a couple of collections it seems like a good time to assess your statement that "the introduction of a third bin for residual waste should further improve the situation."

Has it worked?

Well no, I don't believe that any honest man could claim that it has.

Residents without black bins are continuing to put out black sacks in the wrong week, now perhaps you might say that the black bin deliveries are not yet complete and that they too will soon have a black bin.

However even residents that do have black bins are continuing to fill their other bins with the wrong waste, which the Council defines as "contaminated", which results in the bins not being collected.

So can we agree that the black bins have certainly not resolved the situation?

So what are you going to do now?

The Council has tried a number of tactics over the last year to implement the new bin scheme. At first you ignored rubbish in the street and overspilling contaminated bins. Then additional collections were introduced every week both to take away black sacks and to empty contaminated bins. Finally black bins were introduced. None of these ideas have worked.

I fear that the Council will return to the "ignore" mode of last spring and once again rubbish will accumulate.

However I also do not support the continued extra collections, on both a budgetary and an environmental front they do not make any sense. They also act as sticking plasters covering up the problem and in fact encouraging residents to ignore the new scheme as it's been proven that their bins will be emptied and black sacks taken regardless of when and where they are put out.

I've said from the very early days of the new scheme, when it's failures were all too readily apparent, that the only real solution is for the Council to come out and talk to those residents who are having issues. Unlike many people I know I do believe that the Council did do what could reasonably be expected to publicise the new scheme before it began. The Council have also been persistent in singing the praises and claiming the successes of the new scheme to us residents in publications such as Greenwich Time.

However those things are all one way communications, Greenwich Council has shown itself to be very good at talking at residents and telling us that everything is fine.

Now surely you have to actually talk with residents to resolve the problems and establish a real two way conversation with us.

Perhaps you could even give some of your time to walk around the streets and talk to those people who are having difficulties complying with the new scheme. Surely that would be a move environmentally and economically viable solution than spending our money on extra black bins and extra rubbish collections?

I enclose some photos illustrating the continued problems that are occurring.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing your response.

Regards,

CA

How many bins do residents now need to have? Is any thought given during their distribution?

This was taken last week. Residents without black bins are continuing to put black sacks out in the wrong weeks and those sacks are being torn open by animals spreading the waste around.

Even residents with black bins are continuing to fill their other bins with the "wrong" waste. These problems are not caused by people having no where to put their black sacks.