Forum Topic

Ealing is a Dumping Ground for some!

Why oh why do some people get away with throwing sofas, mattresses, old TV sets etc out on the pavement instead of, donating it to a charity, paying a small fee to the council, or taking it to the local Council Dump?Who do they imagine clears up their rubbish...the fairies?It must cost the Council to send a lorry to collect flytipped items from locations around the borough, yet those responsible seem to get sway with dumping rubbish all over the place.I am aware that a number of businesses have been fined for flytipping but what about householders? I think some irresponsible landlords are guilty of throwing unwanted mattresses in the street when clearing our flats, so why do they get away with it?

Jean F Fernandez ● 5120d23 Comments

I think you may be confusing Acton Reuse & Recycling Centre in Stirling Road with Acton Recycling Comunity which has a shop in South Ealing Road (which used to be in Acton).Acton Reuse & Recycling Centre did not have a Hazardous Waste Licence so couldn't take paint.  It doesn't seem to take batteries either.  However it used to take spent long-life light bulbs (can't see them mentioned).  I'm pretty sure I've taken the striplights from underneath the kitchen cabinets there as well in the past but don't think they will accept them there now.  (You have to be careful with Stirling Road though because sometimes I think they accept things that they shouldn't...) I'm surprised that they accept TVs as I would have thought that they would have fallen foul of some legislation or other.According to the current green box list on the LBE website you can put your car battery in that as well as household batteries.  Don't forget that under fairly recent legislation shops that sell more than a certain amount of household batteries have to also provide a collection point - so you will now find these at supermarkets.I guess some of it may change again with Enterprise.The word 'recycling' is often misused when 'reuse' is actually meant (and I do it myself occasionally).  Reuse comes before Recycling in the Waste Hierarchy.  Recycling is what happens when something comes to the end of its useful life as it is and is either made into something else or is taken back to be what it was again - like the aluminium can that gets melted down and made into a can again or the glass jar turned back into a glass jar.

Philippa Bond ● 5118d

Well they certainly used to because I bought some from them when they were in Acton!

Jean F Fernandez ● 5119d

If you are referring to the one on Stirling Road, they used to take almost anything except paints, batteries and fridges.  They used to take batteries, but needed some special license and had to stop.  There is a lot of furniture sitting there which gets taken away by a man in a van on certain days.

Charles Campbell ● 5119d

You can put *anything* on Freecycle except live animals. It works very well (spoken from personal experience).

Johann Dutch ● 5119d

What about freecycle and streetbank?

Philippa Bond ● 5119d

I can assure you from personal experience that Acton Recycling Community will not accept chipboard furniture.

Johann Dutch ● 5119d

Well Tony I am not surprised that some persistent offenders manage to get away with it.I guess it keeps Streewatchers busy but it can be most frustrating and seems like a losing battle at times.

Jean F Fernandez ● 5119d

Re  easily get out of hand unless action is taken in the worst cases.                xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  I wouldn't place too much faith in the Dept. of Environment Jean, I had a case of fly-tipping, complete with full details inside of who it belonged to etc. Referred matter to appropriate Dept of Council who never  bothered to let me know the outcome but when I eventually asked them, I was told they had checked with the owner of the fly-tipped rubbish and who said they had no idea how it got there, so that was sufficient reason for the Council to take no futher action!. Work out the logic of that little scenario. Six big black  bags of " rubbish" including perishables had been dumped.

Tony Price ● 5119d

There are a number of persistent offenders in this area who either have no idea of how to recycle or perhaps they just couldn't be bothered.Perhaps some residents wonder why their green boxes are not emptied, perhaps the new contractors should make sure they leave a card to explain WHY their rubbish has not been collected, they might get the message - eventually!Envirocrime officers have visited certain premises in the past, but the problem persists. Mind you it coud be that properties change hands regularly and new peple move in.I know it is difficult for the council to keep on top of this situation, but things can easily get out of hand unless action is taken in the worst cases.I have said it before and will say it agsin - do people not have any sense of pride in their surroundings? It doesn't take money to keep the place clean and tidy.

Jean F Fernandez ● 5119d

That last posting was aimed at Jaz.  Why don't they always drop where you want them to? :)

Philippa Bond ● 5119d

I thought they'd tightened this up.  Have they not?  Is this a recent experience?  It isn't good enough.

Philippa Bond ● 5119d

I agree.We are also told not to put our waste and recycling on the pavement but too many do quite unnecessarily.

Philippa Bond ● 5120d

Philippa, I agree with your comments. It is good to recycle any way one can but blocking the footpath is not the best way to go about it!Perhaps items left ready for collection by the Council should have a notice on it to let people know it is going to be removed shortly. I still don't think these items should block the pavement though.

Jean F Fernandez ● 5120d

There are websites eg freecycle and streetbank where you can give away things.  Putting small things on top of your wall and making a notice is a good way.  You should make a notice though.  Somebody had their sofa crushed the other day while it was in the process of being taken away for renovation.  In the few minutes it was left alone on the pavement while the collector went back to collect the cushions it was destroyed.The pavements should be kept clear.  The Council obviously needs to tighten up its collection system - and should be advertising other methods - which it no longer seems to do. Anything left on the pavement ie not on your own property is considered to be flytipping and you can be heavily fined for leaving it there under our Environmental laws.

Philippa Bond ● 5120d

Whilst I am aware of the procedure the council adopts for collecting unwanted furniture I can assure that not all the stuff being dumped on the street is there for collection by the council!Some folk just throw stuff out regardless, out of sight ut of mind.I have also benefited from items discarded in the past when neighbours leave things within their compound hoping someone else can use them.If only everyone was so considerate.Once we even discovered that someone had stuffed an unwanted mattress into a telephone kiosk!  Is this left out for the council do you think?

Jean F Fernandez ● 5120d

When you have asked and paid the council to take your items, they ask you to put your items outside your house so that they can easily get it. If is doesn't fit in your front garden you have to put it on the street. The council can not give you a time or day, they just tell you to put it out and they will pick it up within five days, so the furniture etc that you have seen maybe waiting to be picked up.

Jaz Brown ● 5120d

I am sure that the British Heart Foundation in West Ealing will be glad to accept all types of furniture, as will Acton Recycling in South Ealing Road.I repeat what I said earlier, people should leave any unwanted items INSIDE their gardens with a note to let people know they are free.There really is no excuse to dump goods on the pavement or in alleyways.

Jean F Fernandez ● 5120d

i agree with this entirely. and "dumping" your furniture not only is a free way for you to get rid of old furniture, but also a nice freebie for someone else. win win!

G Estella ● 5120d

but there's the problem though... when the furniture is off-street, the majority of people will assume it is not unwanted and will just walk by and ignore it.

G Estella ● 5120d

Re  so why do they get away with it?                 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx      a relatively recent introduction to the erstwhile Queen of the Suburbs Jean, with the changes in population so does  our environment, oh the joys!

Tony Price ● 5120d

Charities are remarkably selective about what they take. None will take any chipboard or mdf furniture. You can't acutally take furniture to any of Ealing's dumps (they won't accept it) you have to smash it up before taking it to the dump and first and foremost you need a car to get it in there. The council charges £20 for one to eight items (or roughly half of the weekly Jobseekers Allowace that a teenager or recent graduate can expect in benefit). A skip costs aroun £300 for a five cubic metre skip.If you turn up with a car-load of furniture bits at Greenford dump they will often try and charge you for the disposal and try and get you to go over the weightbridge. Remeember: the contractor is there to make money not only off the council but also off you.While not condoning dumping and fly-tipping it does not surprise me that people who are paying £2K a year in council tax on their home and less and less back each year for this (for example, the demise of the garden waste collection service) might, just might be, tempted to dump this stuff somewhere on the road.Remember, the contents of the "wood" skip at Greenford dump is sold on by the contractor Enterprise to make biomass which is used by the electricity generators to make electricity that is then sold to you at exorbitant cost.

Siobhan McNally ● 5120d

There is absolutely no problem with that, in fact I approve of recycling in any way possible.What I am saying that the items should be inside the front garden of your property, not out on the road or pavement where it may cause a problem.There are people with poor sight in Ealing and when items are left on the footpath they could cause an accident.

Jean F Fernandez ● 5120d

ctually where i live people do that so any neighbour who might want their unwanted furniture can have it. its a form of recyling. i have picked up other people's things they have left on their doorstop (office chair, a pram, tv stand and a dolls house to name a few) and in return i have left things out for others, and i know it hasnt been the council picking them up because when i left a wardrobe out a few weeks back i saw a young couple with a baby taking it away with them. it's "one mans trash is another mans treasure" mentality. and above all, i'm glad people round this part of ealing all seem to have that mentality, because we've provided each other with some nice freebies.

G Estella ● 5120d