My photos are on the BBC web site

After reading on the Greenwich Watch web site that a BBC reporter was looking into the rubbish collection situation in Greenwich, read the story here, I contacted the BBC and let them know that I had some photos on this blog.

I was contacted by the reporter a short while after that asking for permission to use my photos, I told him to go for it.

He has, and they're here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/image_galleries/greenwich_recycling_waste_gallery.shtml

While I'm glad to see them up and hope that the Council gets some much needed critical attention I'm not quite so happy to see that the real situation hasn't been explained. It's made to sound like the photos are of rubbish awaiting collection, which isn't true at all. They're photos of what's happened when the Council has failed to collect rubbish properly.

I've sent an email to the journalist and this is what I said:
Thanks for letting me know that the photos are up.

However the photos aren't as simple as being waste awaiting collection, which wouldn't be too bad. Rather it was waste that wasn't due to be collected and shouldn't have been on the street or it was waste that should have been collected but wasn't. As it the true awfulness of the situation that people in Greenwich are having to live with isn't coming across.

The photo of the big pile of black and red bags isn't as simple as rubbish awaiting collection. It was taken on a Thursday when our rubbish collection day is on a Monday. Black bags weren't due to be taken until the following Monday (the collection is every two weeks) but that lot had been dumped there on the Monday before. So it was destined to sit there for a whole week.

The overflowing bins have been like that ever since the new waste collection scheme started. They're still like it today nearly two months into the scheme. Residents that are not separating their rubbish correctly are not having their bins collected. That is understandable. However the Council are not doing anything to resolve the problem despite being told about them. Even in this cold weather they're starting to get rather smelly.

The nappy sack photo was also taken on a Thursday. They're meant to be collected every Monday, that bag had been out for four days.