A concerned resident has snapped a picture of a rubbish strewn street in Plumstead which Greenwich Council has said is due to “missed collections” and “waste being put in the wrong bin”.

The picture taken at Plumstead High Street near the junction with Wickham Lane on January 18 shows a large pile of uncleared rubbish building up on the pavement.

There are a total of six overflowing bins in the image alongside a large amount of full bin bags, some of which had been burst open and its contents spilling out into the pavement.

The person who took the picture, who wants to remain anonymous, said: “Greenwich Council appear to have abandoned any attempt to keep the streets clean, safe and free from rubbish.

“The High Street and neighbouring streets have unemptied wheelie bins despite reasonably regular collections.

“This is partly due to the recent drive to encourage people to recycle more refuse but predictably has just resulted in unemptied wheelie bins being left of the pavement indefinitely.”

Greenwich Council admitted that the build-up of rubbish is “due to us catching up on missed collections over Christmas and New Year” but then also said that it is “partly down to residents putting the wrong rubbish in the wrong bin”.

From February 2023, the Royal Borough of Greenwich will collect general waste every two weeks, but recycling and food waste collections will remain weekly. The council says that the waste will be cleared today (January 20) via a standard collection.

The resident added: “There is another similar pile of rubbish dumped on the pavement in Camrose Street which is another local hot-spot for residents to dump their rubbish.”

He explained that he had raised many “Fix My Street” reports to the council and claims that no action was taken.

The local said he had tried phoning the Council Refuse Department but says that nobody was answering these calls.

He says that the abandoned rubbish is “definitely a danger to anybody trying to get along this part of the High Street” but highlight that this could be a more prominent problem for those with disabilities.

A spokesperson for the Royal Borough of Greenwich said: “Collections for this area are due today, Friday, so the waste will be cleared.

“The build-up is partly due to us catching up on missed collections over Christmas and New Year, and partly down to residents putting the wrong rubbish in the wrong bin.

“There is a climate emergency and we are working extremely hard to encourage residents to recycle more as we move towards Zero Waste.

“Approximately 53 per cent of what goes in the black top bin can be recycled.

“Waste advisors will be engaging with residents in this area to make sure they know what can go in which bin, and to make sure they have sufficient bins for their waste.”