A 46-YEAR-OLD man is furious after “petty” binmen refused to collect his recycling - because there was a tiny crust of bread in it.
Michael Carter, of Eastcombe Avenue, Charlton, had put out his recycling as usual ready for the collection and went shopping.
But when he came back, he found the refuse collectors had left his bin behind with a red tag saying it could not be emptied that morning.
He said: “I had no reason to expect them not to empty it, but when I came back I saw it had been tagged.
“There was a note through my door saying they couldn’t empty it because of food waste.”
Mr Carter looked through the bin and saw that, apart from seven sealed bags of recycling there was another opened bag with one small crust of bread in it.
He said: “I took all the bags out and checked them but all I could find was this crust. It was a miniscule size piece.
“I just thought it was so petty - a real waste of taxpayers’ money.”
Mr Carter phoned up to complain to Greenwich Council.
He said: “I was furious. If they’d have knocked on the door I’d have taken it out myself.
“It’s not like it was a chicken carcass or half a loaf.”
A spokesman for the council said: "Greenwich Council would like to apologise to Mr Carter for our failure to collect items he left out for recycling.
"Whilst we ask residents not to place food waste in their blue top bins - as it can prevent us from recycling items that the food contaminates - we accept our staff may have been over zealous in this case.
"The council returned to Mr Carter's property and collected the recycling waste."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel