A RECYCLING scheme has been criticised by a man who woke up to see "a field of nappies" from his window.

If follows the introduction of Greenwich Council's new rubbish collection scheme, launched on Monday (Jan 21).

Under the system, green wheelie bins can only be filled with garden and food waste for composting, while waste for recycling, such as paper, glass and plastic, goes in blue- top bins, both of which are collected weekly.

Anything which cannot be recycled will now be collected fortnightly in black bin bags.

According to the council, more than 2,000 households have also registered for the nappy collection service.

But Steven Craig, of The Vista, Eltham, said: "On January 22, me and my neighbours woke up to a field of nappies and rubbish.

"Foxes had ripped open all the black bags because they're not intelligent enough to know there's no food in there."

The 34-year-old, who is unemployed, added: "If it carries on, I think this will end up as a dirty borough."

The council says its recycling hotline has received around 1,000 calls a day since the scheme launched.

But despite 26 people manning phone lines, many residents have called News Shopper claiming they cannot get through.

Jill Jackson, of Dumbreck Road, Eltham, said: "I've got two cats and I have to use cat litter, which is quite heavy.

"I now have to put out eight black sacks every fortnight and I don't have anywhere to store them."

The 63-year-old added: "I've tried calling the council lots of times from 8am to 8pm and we just can't get through.

"We all want to save the planet but it's a shame the council hasn't given it a lot more thought."

A council spokesman says it had been informing residents of the changes since last summer.

Messages were put on refuse vehicles, announcements were placed in the media and leaflets were mailed to residents before and after Christmas.

The spokesman said: "The council's sale of paper and cornstarch bags for garden and food waste has been so popular the phone lines at our recycling hotline have been very busy, with more than 1,000 phone calls a day.

"We apologise to residents who are having trouble getting through and we have increased the number of staff answering this phone line to 26."

To register for the nappy collection service, click here to email

For more information about recycling, visit greenwich.gov.uk