Dear LPG,

I have an issue which I suspect may also be such that it affects some other readers from our Borough.

My friend has not yet received her new grey bin in spite of the fact that the Borough’s new rubbish scheme is now underway.  We have checked to make sure that she does not live in one of the streets which are exempt from the fortnightly rubbish collection arrangement.   She has checked with some of her neighbours and learned that they also have not been left a new bin, which has added to this worry.   We phoned Lewisham council and their recording advised us to go to their website where we would be able to inform them about their omission.

I have some computer knowledge, but not all elders do so we called Lewisham council and got through to their  environment team who took the contact details of where the grey bin was needed and assured us that they will rectify the situation.

I also want to tell you about another older lady I know, who finds that there are times when she is in too much pain to recycle her rubbish properly.  Apart from this, she is also one of the many older people who use incontinence pads and has worries about her bin containing soiled ones for two weeks.  She tells me that there are times when she is lucky to get the rubbish out at all.  She found herself in that situation as recently as a month ago, (but before the start of Lewisham’s new dust bin emptying regime).  She was so ill that week, that she put everything into her black bin which did not get emptied until the following week and her concern is that, now that black bins are only emptied every two weeks, this could mean her full bin is by her gate for a month?

I have to ask why the council’s only solution to their problems continues to impact on the really good standard of living, which Lewisham constituents used to have, and which continues to be in decline.

GF, Lewisham.