Forum Topic

Stirling Road recycling closure

This morning I went to the Stirling Road Recycling Centre in Acton to deliver an unrepairable item. I was told that despite all the protests, Ealing Council still plans to close the centre in November.  What we will then face is even more fly tipping which the council will have to deal with. Madness, defying all common sense.

Ian Richardson ● 1465d64 Comments

The logos are rubbish though...

Simon Hayes ● 1443d

Circular economy being practised here:https://threadsoftheearth.uk/recycled-clothing/

Philippa Bond ● 1443d

The "Lefty Swerve" has morphed into "The Lefty Cha-Cha"!  Thick skin and cloth ears are de rigueur.  😆

Rosco White ● 1456d

Yes, baked beans have been repackaged - or Heinz ones have - they used to come in thicker tins.  I choose not to buy baked beans in plastic pots.  Steel has a better chance of being truly recycled.I've seen a lot more green garden waste bags around the streets since the Council announced that they were closing Stirling Road. Many people don't go into charity shops.  Many people won't go into charity shops.  Maybe with more flexible working more people will.  Hopefully they will also have more volunteers. More people are buying and selling and giving away things they no longer need on the internet.We need more producer responsibility and some of this is here - but perhaps not known about enough - and I'm sure that there is more to come. 

Philippa Bond ● 1456d

I think you missed the point....

Simon Hayes ● 1456d

We actually had baked beans on toast with a poached egg on top for supper last night.A good quick supper with kerbside recyclable can, kerbside recyclable egg box, egg shells in the kerbside recyclable food waste or more likely in our wormery and the only plastic was the bag around the bread which will go in the supermarket plastic recycling bank.Are you suggesting that we don't all eat baked beans?

Philippa Bond ● 1456d

Just listen to yourself.If people take small things to Stirling Road as part of a tip run then all well and good. At least they are recycling.You seem to be unfamiliar with the principle of least effort, which tends to govern most human behaviour.You also assume everyone is economically equal. Perhaps many people are less financially advantaged as you and tend to but things that they can afford. Principles as espoused by yourself tend to bite the dust when money is tight.Oh, and we like baked beans. They come in a tin. Should I ask for that those to be repackaged somehow?

Simon Hayes ● 1457d

I do lobby and send packaging back every so often. Have you ever refused to buy something because of the packaging, denied yourself something because of the packaging, and/or complained to the company involved because of the packaging or because the item was unrecyclable or there were no replacement pieces for it?You say Stirling Road is for larger or bulky items but it has always irritated me that it has been used for the things that everyone or almost everyone should be able to recycle kerbside.  I suspect there are still flats which do not have a good recycling system set up.  There was a complaint not so long ago from a flat-dweller who had been taking plastics to the Ealing Council recycling bins at Waitrose Ealing.  I've never heard whether she did manage to get the Council to sort out some recycling for them.I used it for garden waste several times a year and also for used cooking oil every so often but as it is going to close I've signed up for the garden waste kerbside system - which now there is a choice of bags rather than just wheelie bins is suitable for us. Cooking oil I am now starting to dispose of as per the instructions on our Waste Authority's website - sealed in a bottle in the black sack.https://westlondonwaste.gov.uk/reuse-guide/cooking-oil-2/When you have many new items delivered you can ask for the old ones to be collected for a small fee. When you buy small electrical items from many shops you can leave your old one there either at the same time or a short while later. Check out Robert Dyas/Tesco/Sainsbury's/DIY shops.LBE also has small electrical/electronic banks on the streets.  LBH collects these kerbside in a carrier bag. 

Philippa Bond ● 1457d

Why are you not lobbying the manufacturers and shops, Philippa?Tesco responded to pressure to reduce plastic by getting rid of plastic wrapped multipacks of tins. But there is still too much packaging on most products, shop bought or delivered. That’s what goes in most people’s recycling bins. Ours is full every fortnight when it’s collected. It’s then up to the council to deal with it.But again you confuse household recycling of plastic and tins with the purpose of the Stirling Road site. That’s for larger or bulky items and things that can’t go in the green bin. Even then they don’t take things like paint there, which has to go to Greenford but more likely ends up in general waste bins or a convenient skip.

Simon Hayes ● 1458d

All very worthy and no one can disagree but there comes a point when you have to dispose and/or recycle.It is this vital link in the chain that this hapless council has broken for many with the closure of Sterling Road, Having a single, must be booked in advance online, centre in Greenford disadvantages many and can only lead to increased waste and flytipping.

N V Brooks ● 1458d

There is still a waste hierarchy.  Recycling is at the end of it.  It is the last port of call for whatever you are disposing of.Why are we so obsessed with the Recycling bit when we should be spending more time Reducing by buying more carefully and not wasting to start off with?Since we are supposed to be Reducing it shouldn't be a surprise if rates go down.  If you make the effort to buy less packaging on your goods and if producers make increasingly minimal and easily recycled packaging it will go down.The biggest mistake was for the Council to provide bins much larger than anyone had ever seen or was using before.  In other places they were smaller or they changed them to smaller as residents progressed on their journey to less unrecyclable waste, less recyclable waste and less CO2.

Philippa Bond ● 1458d

Why does this not surpise me .............In the least.

Rosco White ● 1458d

Here’s an example for you.Bell sanctioned the spending of £300,000 of council cash on the campaign to ‘save’ Ealing Hospital. A large chunk of that cash went to ‘advisers’, presumably to guide his campaign.Regardless of anyone’s ideological stance that’s a big wedge of taxpayer cash to spend on a political campaign, particularly when we were - and are - perpetually reminded about cuts to local government funding.Had the cash come from Ealing Labour coffees, or Bell’s own pocket (🤕) then all well and good. It was a political campaign.

Simon Hayes ● 1458d

Hear, Hear!And Amen!"Thatcher knew this, but sadly ran out of time before she could bring about the sorely needed changes in UK council structures."I have alluded to this before, it would have had wondrous consequences if fully implemented.I'd/We'd all love to know the true "Cost" of all the petty party politics that goes on in The Ealing Kremlin.

Rosco White ● 1458d

There should be NO PLACE in local councils for party politics, or politics of any kind. Council staff should be, and work, solely as business administrators and clerks. Thatcher knew this, but sadly ran out of time before she could bring about the sorely needed changes in UK council structures.

Tony Heath ● 1458d

Services have been in decline for ages and some blinkered apparatchiks of Labour constantly bleat about Tory cuts which have had an effect but seemingly a far greater effect in Ealing than other boroughs or so they would have you believe.What distinguishes Ealing is the extent to which they simply ignore residents or pay lip service to 'consultation' which they then either ignore or try to deny the result.You do though Maggie (if I may) need to keep reading the musings of PB if only to give yourself a chuckle.

N V Brooks ● 1459d

Haven’t managed to read all the comments even allowing for the fact that I no longer read MsBonds,  sorry 👍I just hate that we are paying for these services but we get no say.  Our opinion doesn’t countalthough we must know more than most as residents 🤷‍♀️ Has it ever been thus or have I just been awakened by the injustice of LTNS and cycle lanes

Maggie Dodge ● 1459d

Here’s a link for you: http://neighbournet.com/server/common/earecycling006.htmI doubt recycling rates will improve in coming years, despite any spin the council and its supporters put on it.

Simon Hayes ● 1459d

Really? You mean like trying to conflate a round the world yachtswoman with the closure of an important public resource? If that's not navel-gazing and time wasting I don't know what it is.Keep posting it's still mildly amusing.

N V Brooks ● 1459d

I've got better things to do than waste my time with navel gazers.

Philippa Bond ● 1459d

If the recycling centre was being offloaded for some obvious benefit then the decision would make sense. But flogging it to a storage company is very strange.Guess what? People tend to drive to storage units. Then fill them with plastic and metal and glass until such time that they decide to throw those items away.Meanwhile quite a lot of perfectly reusable stuff will go to landfill because the thousands of people who use the current site won’t travel miles to the ‘rationalised’ offer. Despite what Bunter Bell claimed.I met Ellen MacArthur once. Nice lady but I’m not sure I’d look to her for recycling advice.

Simon Hayes ● 1459d

I shall refer to that when I next see a solo yachtswoman sailing around the streets of Acton.In the meantime I remain amused at your increasingly irrelevant straw clutching posts. Do keep them coming.

N V Brooks ● 1459d

You and Rosco are the ones who bring Council politics into every single thread.Here is an introduction to the circular economy if you haven't come across it before and even if you have there is a chance you could learn something that you didn't know before.  Ellen Macarthur you will remember was the sailor who smashed the record for the fastest solo cirumnavigation of the globe in 2005.https://archive.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/explore/the-circular-economy-in-detail

Philippa Bond ● 1459d

Or you can just be wrong and obfuscate and you are out on your own here madam.Do keep defending the council, we all need a good laugh.

N V Brooks ● 1460d

You can be constructive or you can unconstructive.  You two are the latter.

Philippa Bond ● 1461d

Ain't THAT the truth!  👍And to be clear, we are aware that you refer to LOCAL, Council Politics, N V Brooks.Some are unable to differentiate.  😁

Rosco White ● 1461d

See the first post in the thread.I despair at some peoples inability to answer a simple question while their blinkered political ideology virtually blinds them to anything other than some form of worship of the current administration.It is the fault of these people's blind adherence to failed policies that we have had twelve years of decline in standards and public services.

N V Brooks ● 1461d

which may not be as big as you think they are.Check out which companies will take back whatever you are replacing before you buy - and many will give you some time afterwards so do keep the receipt.Plus there are plenty of online sites of which www.trashnothing.com is probably the easiest to use.  Check it out.PS I thought most most people in Ealing had enormous wheelie bins now? You could always ask your neighbours if anyone has space in theirs for unrecyclable items BUTCheck first the list of kerbside recyclables on the Council website and on the West London Waste Authority website.  You never know what may have changed since you last looked - and if you have found another legal outlet not listed then let them know.You could always share a bulky collection with a friend or friends - you just have to work it out and sort it out.  Remember with the problems with lorry drivers it may not be instant.https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201171/recycling_services/280/household_recyclingwww.westlondonwaste.gov.uk

Philippa Bond ● 1461d

Incorrigible, Blind Labour Voter.Nothing to see here, move along now ..................  😁

Rosco White ● 1461d

Once again madam, absolutely nothing to do with the culpable failures of the council to provide adequate recycling facilities.

N V Brooks ● 1461d

There is a discount for garden waste in LBE for older residents and there is also now a choice of three reusable green bags as well as the green wheelie bin.  I think there is also a reduction if you sign up in October.Interestingly there was a fairly recent Govt consultation and I think that the consensus on that was that garden waste should be a free collection.  With climate change and biodiversity now supposed to be high on the agenda that would obviously be a good thing.  Everyone should be encouraged not to concrete and pave their gardens but to green them.  It was a very sad and bad day when the Councils decided to charge for this.  Councils do not have to provide this free and a consultancy reported that this was a way that they could raise money to pay for collections.We were happier to sweep up the leaves and add them to our garden waste when it was a free collection.  When we only use it a few times a year using scarce garden space to house huge empty bins is an unwelcome imposition.  Then we learnt that the Environment Agency had ruled that leaves from street trees should not be composted as there was such a lot of pollution swept up with them - not just the cans and litter but the pollution that comes from vehicle tyres and oil etc. Govt and Govt cuts encouraged Councils to charge.  So instead of more environmentally friendly composting which added good nutrients to gardens and helped them to hold water residents were encouraged to take the easy option and once hooked on that the charges were introduced.

Philippa Bond ● 1461d

I have long been convinced that the sole recycling objective in Ealing is to extract as much additional revenue as possible from council taxpayers.  Apologists will seek to justify the actions but the hypocrisy is simply cynical

N V Brooks ● 1461d

Garden waste ought to be free for all over 60s and given the insistence to not use vehicles. After all they make money both ways from that. Unlike other waste.And the commons sense for neighbours to club together and hire a van to do a street share - (very common in the US and fully supported by vouchers - from the ;local authority to tipper share - and that provides a quarterly street tipper for every 10 homes.) is met with a firm blanket ban for any vans or community initiative.Just underlines the complete double standards and incompetence of administration.

Raymond Havelock ● 1461d

Still free in Hillingdon

N V Brooks ● 1461d

Perhaps someone needs to understand the principle of least effort. Make things more difficult for people and they don’t bother. Stirling Road is my nearest tip. Once it goes I’m not trekking to Greenford. Stuff will just go in the bin.No doubt garden waste collection will increase in cost next year. £80 at the moment, compared to £55 for Hounslow.

Simon Hayes ● 1461d

Once again, absolutely nothing to do with the culpable failures of the council to provide adequate recycling facilities.Do keep up. Simply changing the topic is futile

N V Brooks ● 1461d

Who still does not have kerbside recycling facilities?  Why are they not campaigning to either get them or get a simpler and less expensive solution than a duplicated one?There are places to take your unwanted stuff listed on here and if you know any more then why not suggest them?http://www.westlondonwaste.org.uk/

Philippa Bond ● 1461d

Once again, absolutely nothing to do with the culpable failures of the council to provide adequate recycling facilities.Do keep up. Simply changing the topic is futile

N V Brooks ● 1461d

It is easiest when you describe something and offer it and then give it to someone who asks for and wants it rather than taking it to somewhere for it to be piled up and sorted by people who don't know what it is in very expensive space.Charity shops can be overwhelmed.  They don't have space and we often want to give them things that we don't want but they don't want either.  Storage is expensive.  There aren't enough volunteers.  Please phone them before you go and ask them if they will take various things.  Take them in season and clean and often they want just a few at a time.  Very often they only keep them for a short amount of time and if no-one wants them they dispose of them.  With clothing this may be selling them for rag and hopefully not sending to incineration. Please remember their very existence is to support their own stated charitable aims.A friend recently sold a camera on Ebay to someone who came over from Germany to collect it.Take a look at the online charity shops.

Philippa Bond ● 1461d

A TRIPLE Lefty Swerve!There's no stopping this woman, she's ultra-focussed,          Ms Bond takes the GOLD!!!              😨    😂    👍

Rosco White ● 1461d

Meanwhile you continue the swerving and obfuscation. No one denies change is happening and, with that in mind, local authorities should be making recycling and repurposing easier not more difficult by the withdrawal of facilities. It's not difficult to agree with common sense.

N V Brooks ● 1461d

It's a discussion forum and I don't have to agree when I don't agree.  Life constantly changes and we are supposed to be moving towards a circular rather than a linear economy.  We can't afford to keep trashing what we no longer want and aren't moving fast enough. The crisis of climate change hopefully will help to bring new solutions.

Philippa Bond ● 1461d

No. Philipa, try not to generalise things in some deluded self rightous way of yours, in this case about Rosco. Try to have some common sense, in a given situation, and not be so self righteous.

Anthony Hawran ● 1461d

Isn't everybody left of Rosco?

Philippa Bond ● 1461d

I think Rosco's 'Double Lefty Swerve' is the political equivalent of the oozlum bird . . . .

Tony Heath ● 1461d

DOUBLE Lefty Swerve - Outstanding!    🤣Why don't YOU investigate the appalling Labour incompetently running Ealing Council?"An Inconvenient Truth"?

Rosco White ● 1462d

Why don't you investigate the Circular Economy?

Philippa Bond ● 1462d

I call it "The Lefty Swerve", mainly perpetrated by, errrrr, Lefties.When they're on an uncomfortably true and losing subject they will try and switch said subject to something entirely different and get you arguing about the new, irrelevant subject they have raised. They hope you won't notice the change of subject matter and that you'll engage with them on the new subject they think they have "subtly" introduced and that you'll forget about the original subject discussion. 😂Happens on here ALL the time with one or more, and I've seen many posters fall for it.The Lefty Swerve!  😆

Rosco White ● 1462d

This has precisely what to do with a failing council's nonsensical decision to make recycling more difficult?Obfuscation at its best.

N V Brooks ● 1462d

The law has changed here to try to make it easier to repair items like white goods (well a lot of them).Don't forget that when you buy your white goods from a company most of them will collect your old one at the same time as they deliver for a small fee.  Many of them can be repaired rather than immediately swapped for a newer one.There is unfortunately a shortage of HGV drivers and some companies are having problems not only with deliveries and collections but also with delays in stock coming into the country as there has also been a problem with a shortage of shipping containers.

Philippa Bond ● 1462d

Having made the effort you then need a council that makes it easy to recycle that which you cannot recycle yourself.Unlike the current apology for a council that some seemingly seek to constantly support and justify.

N V Brooks ● 1462d

You don't.  You batteries from a shop and you take your spent batteries back to the same shop or another one which sells batteries.  There are quite a few shops taking back the items that they sell when you no longer want them and others will take back similar items.We need to buy more carefully so that things don't last 5 minutes and then you don't need to throw things out so often. https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/this-is-ikea/sustainable-everyday/buy-back-and-resell-service-pubcc071810https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/press-releases/5e0f046f7880b21924350282/m-and-s-brings-back-shwopping-making-sustainable-shopping-easierhttps://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/tesco-expands-soft-plastic-collection-scheme/It is costly sorting and recycling everything.  We need to become more conscious of the detrimental impact that our profligate lifestyles in the west make on the environment and try and be more responsible.

Philippa Bond ● 1462d

It's impossible to tell if a vehicle is taxed or not. Unless you want to spend all day glued to an app.  Even then it's often incorrect.Fact is recycling was easier 10 years ago than it is now.Centres were one size fits all and took more or less everything.Who, other than Philippa, has ample time to go from place to place or spend all day online on the off chance that somewhere might take one item or another?Not to mention the energy wasted in the process.

Raymond Havelock ● 1463d

Or inaccessible online forms.Try reporting an untaxed “dumped “ car

Peter Yale ● 1463d

Hear hear. A modern civilized society surely should be overly helpful in aiding residents recycle and dispose of "rubbish"It should be a service offered..with a smile,not a service with a disgrundled unwelcome.

Jim Lawes ● 1463d

Why 😂 why should we be doing the council's ruddy job? Open the bloody recycling centres fully and let the residents recycle without hassle.

N V Brooks ● 1463d

www.gumtree.comwww.ebay.co.ukwww.trashnothing.comwww.preloved.co.ukWho still doesn't have kerbside recycling?  If you don't have it then you should be contacting your local Councillors to ask for it - or to ask for the occasional special collection banks via the West London Waste Authority.  You can take small electricals to some of the electrical shops (eg Robert Dyas - check their website) as well as most spent batteries and spent low energy light bulbs and there are small electricals banks in Ealing. Check out all the DIY stores.All shops which sell more than a certain number of batteries by law have to provide collection points for them.  Sainsbury's Chiswick has one inside the entrance by the car park.Many contractors should or could be taking away and disposing of items legally as well as putting new items into your home. There are also licensed waste carriers like Hippobag where you pay upfront and the bag is collected.  Check you have room in your front garden.Then there are charities who will collect like the British Heart Foundation and Petit Miracles.We should be aiming for a circular economy.

Philippa Bond ● 1463d

And what will residents be putting into expensive STORAGE UNITS....perhaps stuff they tried to deliver to RECYCLING CENTRES!

Jim Lawes ● 1463d

are there any recycling centres left in the likes of Waitrose, Morrisons etc?

Simon Wycombe ● 1463d

Decision like this are probably made by council officers rather than politicians. As most elected councillors would probably have the same opinion as us about the wisdom of closing it, they have probably been told that it is necessary.

Mark Evans ● 1463d

Of course, that's exactly what will happen, we have blithering idiots running LBE and making these decisions.Mind you, there's a LOT of £££££££££s sloshing around.Know wot I mean.  😉As has already been pointed out, the undoubted immediate increase in fly tipping etc and the need to do special collections of same when it happens will more than negate any "profit" from this blindingly stupid and short sited decision.      TRASH YOUR COMMUNITY, VOTE LOCAL LABOUR.      Remember, They Don't Give A Fornication!

Rosco White ● 1464d

I fully expect that that is what will happen Mark.The gullibility of this lacklustre council never fails to underwhelm me

N V Brooks ● 1464d

You are right, the decision makes little sense in isolation. The only explanation could be severe financial pressure. What I've heard is that the site has been sold to the storage company next door. This does means they can bank the cash quickly rather than waiting for the bigger sum they would get for developing the site. The might regret this if the storage company then decides they don't need the land any more and applies for a residential scheme.

Mark Evans ● 1464d

Yep, that's Local Labour, Einsteinian Geniuses when it comes to business and management.      🤣

Rosco White ● 1465d