THE disturbing scene of a former landfill site in Thurrock slowly eroding into the river Thames and disgorging who knows what on the local riverside has been described in a BBC radio documentary.

Investigative reporter Tom Heaps works on the 'Costing The Earth' series of programmes and visited the river between Tilbury and Coalhouse Fort.

He says: "I wanted to look at somewhere which illustrates an acute problem so I went to the Thames in Essex where thanks to coastal erosion two old landfill sites are now disgorging their contents into the river.

He met up with professor Kate Spencer from London's Queen Mary University and they walked along the Thames path.

In the programme, which you can listen to via the BBC Sounds platform via this link they detail what they found, how the old waste is impacting on the health and well-being of the river and countryside and what can be done about it.

The radio programme echoes an earlier BBC Four TV documentary entitled 'The Secret Life of Landfill: A Rubbish History which also featured the seeping rubbish by the river in Thurrock.