Forum Topic

A FESTIVAL OF LITTER

I have just watched the video of the chariot procession organised by the Shri Kanagathurkkai Amman Temple in West Ealing which took place last Sunday, 12 August. On Monday 13 August at 8.00am I made my own video of the aftermath of the event which I have forwarded to Ealing Environmental Services. The video shows Dean Gardens where the event culminates but you can hardly recognize it under the mountain of litter!How can any organisation abuse a public space in the way my video demonstrates and get off scot free? The litter is on a massive scale and is totally unacceptable. Clearly there were litter receptacles available in Dean Gardens but they were treated as though non-existent. I watched the yellow-jacketed litter-collectors wandering around as I made my video. They were in a daze, just not knowing where to begin.I quote from the Council’s own web-pages on the topic of litter:“The council has a zero tolerance policy towards litter and provides litter bins within parks and open spaces for disposal.We also encourage users to take home recycable items, such as cans and news papers, and put them in their household recycling for collection whenever possible, as litter collected in parks and open spaces is currently not recycled.The ranger service use national legislation in order to keep our parks and open spaces free of all unauthorised waste. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 it is illegal to drop litter or dump any waste or rubbish on private or public land.Those caught dropping litter which includes chewing gum, apple cores and cigarette butts, may receive a fixed penalty notice of £80 or face a maximum fine of up to £2,500. If necessary, we will take further legal action against other forms of illegal waste.”Well, where to begin?! Where is there any evidence that those attending this event were ‘encouraged’ to take their litter home? Were any ‘fixed penalty notices’ issued?Really, what is the point of publishing a policy on litter if it has no more clout than a piece of wet newspaper?People who use public spaces need to realize (whoever they are) that parks are shared spaces and must be treated with respect so that others can enjoy them too. Suppose, after this event, which should have finished by 4pm, I had wished to take a stroll in the park or walk my dog in the early evening - I would have had to turn back the moment I reached Dean Gardens in total disgust.I also understand that liaison with the organisers of this event and Ealing Council in respect of a Traffic Management Order failed to come to anything but the event was still allowed to proceed with no TMO in place. That is unacceptable. The Council and the organisers of this event need to get their act together so that in future years it is properly organised and the needs of the wider community (not just the Sri Lankan Tamils who are the majority attending the festival) are understood and respected.Perhaps all who attend should be issued with a complimentary large bin-bag and encouraged by prominently displayed posters to ‘Take Your Litter Home’.This is an annual event which is getting out of hand. It needs urgent review and proper future control.Yours,Kitsana Udomcharoen

Vincent Paul Wrigley ● 2638d13 Comments

You are right - we will run out of the earth's resources - and especially if we just burn them.

Philippa Bond ● 2624d

it won't last

Harold John Ward ● 2624d

Philippa, to me it is obvious, package everything in easily recyclable packaging. No PVC, no polyethyline. Cardboard base, cellophane cover, aluminium or steel cans (preferably with easily removeable paper labels/covers).

Mark Julian Raymond ● 2624d

Here's what was happening at the Notting Hill Carnival:https://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/can-recycling-focus-at-notting-hill-carnival/Since nobody can understand what "mixed recycling" is as it differs from Council to Council and Country to Country for festivals it has to be very obvious!Most people will make an attempt to recycle their cans and anything else they can :) when they can easily identify where.

Philippa Bond ● 2624d

Blimey, an Ealing Council Department actually doing what's it's supposed to do and monitoring & providing a service it's supposed to provide.I need a cup of tea and a good lie down.

Rosco White ● 2625d

More than "written assuraces", might I be so bold as to suggeast a large deposit (in cash)

Mark Julian Raymond ● 2625d

Have just received a useful reply from Robin Williamson, Contracts Manager for Ealing Council's Street Services, in which he explains that the organisers this year failed to liaise with the Council's Events Team. A waste contractor was not hired to do the post-event clean-up which had to be provided by EC at short notice and caused a lot of inconvenience. I was pleased to hear that the bill for the clean up including extra because Sunday working was involved went to the organisers who apologised for what had happened. Mr Williamson concludes his reply saying  "before any future event of this type is permitted the Council's Events Team will be seeking written assurances regarding all aspects of the planning process." I hope we don't have a repeat of 2018 but we must remain vigilant. Vincent Wrigley

Vincent Paul Wrigley ● 2625d

Believe me, I am not in favour of privatisation and firmly believe that the waste management, care services (especially the care workers who do the work of looking after people in their homes), and the environment in general should be on the Council payroll and are properly trained. There are too many subcontracted idiots wandering around with chainsaws hacking everything in Ealing's parks and open spaces in square cut hedges murdering slow growing plants like Ruscus that should not be pruned with their chainsaws.However, some outsourcing in these pressured economic times appears inevitable so I think the areas of event management, PR, and marketing, and even charity/grant fundraising could and should be outsourced. There are many good agencies, even local ones, that do this well and lets face it putting on festivals is a long way from the actual needs of residents tripping and driving over potholes and rubbish mounds.

Mark Julian Raymond ● 2630d

this is what I keep saying this labour lead council is just doing as it likes they don't care a monkeys about the people of ealing people had there change back in may and blew it

Harold John Ward ● 2630d

The answer is simple. We need to deploy the private contractors that fine people for dropping litter at these events. Once a few hundred people have been fined there will be an outcry, the word will get round and less litter will be dropped at these events.Secondly, the festival organisers should be required to pay a "reset" deposit to cover the cost of returning the venue even if it is the whole Uxbridge Road to its original pre-event state.Thirdly, having watched the Council Events Team destroy the Jazz Festival over a couple of decades turning it from a pleasant open experience for Ealing residents where you could picnic into a commercialised eventmanagementstaff-career-building experience involving dozens of police, sniffer dogs and cage-like fences to encourage the rats within to turn on each other I would suggest that the whole Council Events, Public Relations, and Marketing Teams are outsourced to private contractors. None of this flim-flam is core to the health of the local community and as long as cuts in care to the disadvantaged are being imposed we have no right to spend public money on entertainment. There are plenty of agencies who do this well (unlike carers and related services) and framkly if the agency is no good no one will die, the event just won't be very good. To make this work all you need to do is to let out the venue to the organisers and take a huge upfront deposit that is refundable when litter, police, etc., unexpected incidentals are deducted. No full-time staff in the Council. Oh and getting rid of the decorative mayoral function whould also fit into this PR/Marketing/Events unnecesary for human well-being heading so lets downsizee that function too. Put the money into welfare, roads, pavements, and rat control.

Mark Julian Raymond ● 2631d

I can't comment on that festival but I've been tearing my hair out for years about the waste management at the Ealing Jazz and Blues Festivals.  Or rather I haven't or I wouldn't have any.  It's a disgrace.  Luckily for Ealing Council I've had other more pressing obligations and have just had to turn away with a festering disbelief and disgust - and have tended to choose where and what I ate and to take my litter home to dispose of.I can understand to an extent that it is difficult in the dark and when people have been drinking to avoid having a lot of contamination of the waste BUT we have been recycling now for years or should have been and the food companies invited (presumably) to attend are I'm sure supposed to be using compostable plates and cutlery.  (I only saw one this year which had single use plastic cutlery.) BUT THE BINS!This is something that should be improved upon year after year but it is as if a new lot of sixth-formers has been put in charge each year.  WHY IS THERE NO CONTINUITY regarding waste? And why doesn't there appear to be proper LIAISON between different departments of the Council?How can you not even get it right so that people separate and dispose of their metal drinks cans in the right place?It doesn't matter what sorting gets done afterwards - if any - as there should also be consolidation of what we should all be doing at home!  There were random coloured bins with random notices ALL showing the mobius loop whether marked up as GENERAL WASTE or RECYCLING.  Don't we all know by now that what can be recycled in each borough or even each contract is different?  These events may be IN Ealing but they are advertised elsewhere, many of the musicians and their crew come from elsewhere and people attend from elsewhere.  Oh and it really isn't anything to be proud about that we can burn everything if we need to.  Nobody seemed to understand what could go in the different bins.  There were just laminated notices on them which weren't even attached properly so they couldn't blow upside down - and all featured the mobius loop.  So how many minutes did that take to do the night before?  Where was the planning, the notes from previous years with what worked and what would work better, and where is this year's post mortem on the events?

Philippa Bond ● 2631d

Agree. Just read through EC's EVENTS POLICY document. I'll be particularly interested to hear if they achieved compliance with section 6.16 and if penalties for non-compliance will be imposed:"6.16 Waste ManagementIt is the event organiser’s responsibility to provide the Council with a wastemanagement plan and ensure adequate facilities are provided for the safe disposalof waste. The Council encourages organisers to make the recycling of waste apriority over disposal to landfill. The disposal of both solid and wet waste must bemanaged legally and all waste must be clear of site within the pre agreed timescaleas set by the Council. Any deviation to the agreed timescale may incur costs and anywork that has to be carried out to clean sites and remove waste will be recharged tothe organiser, in most cases monies will be held back from the returnable damage deposit"

Vincent Paul Wrigley ● 2637d

KitsanaI walked through the festival late on Sunday and share your observations. The council's own event management policy seemed not to have been complied with. This is clear on waste management responsibilities. It would interesting to read the council's own post event review.

Robert Marrill ● 2638d