South London Bin Men Refuse to Collect Recycling due to Contamination
A resident of South London was left stunned and angry after bin men refused to collect his recycling. The men left a note for Michael Carter, age 41, on his door, saying that they couldn’t take his wheelie bin due to food waste contamination. The food they were talking about was a one-inch piece of bread that was accidentally left inside.
Carter returned home from shopping last Monday only to find that his wheelie bin wasn’t emptied and had a red tag on it, which means that the contents were incorrectly sorted. He said that he took all the bags out and checked them, but all he could find was that one little piece of bread. He thought that this was so petty and a real waste of taxpayers’ money to make such a fuss over a minuscule-sized piece of food.
Residents are told to use clear bin bangs to put the waste in so that bin men can see if there is something “contaminating” the recycling or not. The Greenwich Council says that the blue-topped wheelie bin is for mixed dry recycling items, which includes foil, boxes, glass and plastic bottles, empty cans, aerosol cans, newspapers and toilet paper roll inserts.
Carter says that he would have taken the bread out of the bin himself if they would have just knocked on the door. It’s not like there was a half a loaf of bread or chicken carcass inside, he added.
A Greenwich Council spokesman said that they apologize to Carter for their failure to collect his recycled items. While they ask residents not to put food waste in their blue-topped bins, which prevents them from recycling what food can contaminate, they realize their staff may been over-the-top about this particular case, the spokesman continued, adding that they returned to Carter’s home to collect the recycling.
Recycle your old stuff!