Forum Topic

Is the trail of rubbish after bin and recycling day foxes or the bin men?

It is obvious that rubbish and recycling has taken place as there is a trail of rubbish along the street and in drives and front gardens.  Some could be the work of foxes but much of it has fallen from collected sacks and boxes.  Street cleaning needs to be tied into the rubbish collection cycle so that one follows the other.  The right way round!

Bernice Wolfenden ● 4422d10 Comments

I've just re-measured my dustbin - a traditional type - and it is thigh-high on me and I'm not that tall :)  My problem with the collection is actually the binmen emptying it when it isn't anything like full! We have much more recycling than residual waste now.  It is worth checking the website to see that you are up to date with what can recycled so easily kerbside now.REDUcing the volume by flattening/crushing makes a lot of difference.  It all depends on your buying habits where you can make the biggest difference.I find filling a cereal box with all other smaller pieces of card works well.Tetrapaks also take up a lot of room if not flattened - and  you can even get enough for another cup of tea out of the milk ones if you empty them properly!Big plastic bottles - cola and water takes up a lot less space when flattened.  Milk ones too - rinse them and lean on them.  Leave the lids off.  (If you don't buy bottled water and use the milkman then you'll have even fewer of these! :)  Remember it doesn't have to be a one or other choice with either of these.)Plastic films are more complicated but some of these can be taken back to the supermarket to be recycled with the carrier bags.  Check the labelling.  Others you can use to squish that cellophane and unrecyclable film into.  You'll find those free (but they're not the cost is included in the price of everything that you buy) carrier bags are unnecessary.  You'll find the odd one that arrives useful but you won't need many.  Take your own bag shopping!

Philippa Bond ● 4414d

Bernice,The bin men are supposed to carry "spill kits" (a brush and a shovel to you and I) to clear up spills.  They typically ignore this obligation in their contract and the council doesn't have the will to insist apparently.  If there were less spills maybe it would be easier to get the bin men to clear them.  That said spills are easily avoided if you spend a tenner on a waist high plastic bin and put your rubbish in it.  The bin men can take your bags out and will no doubt toss the lid across your garden but at least there won't be any mess.  If you get a big wheelie bin the men will not empty it (quite rightly) as they can't see in to spot hazards and pulling object out at that height leads to a high rate of work related injury.  So waist high only.  As a rule if there is food on the ground there will be foxes and rats.  If you want to stop the vermin remove the food.  Put it in a food re-cycling bin or an old-fashioned dustbin.  Or keep it indoors until the morning.  Leaving bin bags with food in outside overnight is anti-social and will make a mess.  People really should leave their stuff on their own property.  That way they are typically more careful that it doesn't spill and they clear up their own spills.  If we all chuck stuff out on the street we all end up living in filth.    It is fly-tipping technically and it is anti-social.  We do need to take care of our own waste or we will have a lot of dirt around us.  The council is there to take rubbish away and clean the streets not clear up after us if we make a huge mess.

Phil Taylor ● 4418d

Never mind the posters Philippa, give the culprits a hefty fine, like they do in Singapore where the streets and all public places are immaculate and clean so everyone benefits.

Gerry Tan ● 4418d

Yes, I agree about the car drivers.  I was at the seaside the other day and someone just chucked the packaging from their lunch straight out of the car onto the road and drove off.  Not an accident - a totally deliberate action.  However it seems that this is a problem wherever you are.  People expect someone to come along and clear up after them instead of looking after their waste and taking it home with them to dispose of.Where are the posters reminding people of the law?

Philippa Bond ● 4418d

Recently, the refuse collection and street cleaning people round our environs have been doing their jobs in the correct order and the roads seem to be clearer of rubbish - but that's only in the last few weeks. Some culprits are the car drivers and careless pedestrians who throw all kinds of rubbish away, some of it unmentionable.

Gerry Tan ● 4419d

Well no one seems to have told the street cleaning team about the new 'day after' arrangement on Boston Road.Street has been diligently swept but the recycling still has yet to collected with the commensurate 'spills' to follow'.Joined, up and thinking seem to be alien words to the cleansing department.

Nigel Brooks ● 4419d

The binmen have a brush and shovel as well don't they for when they spill waste?Agree about the skips.  Sometimes people just try and add waste and then the skip collectors or maybe whoever has paid for the skip just removes that extra waste and puts it on the pavement.There is a Householder Duty of Care for Waste and you can be fined for putting your waste out too early.  Just google the phrase above and you will find it.

Philippa Bond ● 4422d

I forgot to mention that Enterprise were in our street today but of course they just passed by all the rubbish.Our street was not swept today so perhaps they will now be sweeping the day after rubbish collection. I guess it would make more sense rather than sweeping beforehand!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4422d

I reported an overflowing skip in our road to Streetwatchers on Sunday and contacted the company who owns the skip on Monday moring because people were actually getting into the skip and making an absolute mess pulling items out and scattering the items over the road.The skip company promised to return my call as their system was down but they didn't bother ringing back. In the meantime the street is in an awful  mess and the wind is blowing everything around the street.So we are still awaiting a visit from the Environment Officer and someone from cleansing!  I again rang the skip company and they have promised that the skip will be collected tomorrow morning but their driver will NOTclean up the mess left behind!Why does no-one take responsibility for this? I do think that these skips should have a secure cover and be removed quickly instead of leaving the street looking like the aftermath of a hurricane!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4422d

It would seem from the info on the front page that in order to achieve street cleaning after recycling and waste collection that they have decided to move street cleaning to the following day.Although there is still a problem of the people who DO NOT separate their food waste and leave their unprotected bin bags out too early so that they can be torn apart by cats, rats, birds and foxes.  This is particularly irritating over the holidays and weekends when it is embarrassing to bring your visitors to London home.Residents pay for a food waste collection and a recycling collection as part of the Council Tax.  Ealing's was one of the first and has been going since 2005 if I remember rightly.  It is a system which is now being rolled out right across the country.  I didn't think I'd like it but I do.  No more dripping bin bags making it so much easier to carry waste out through the house.  You can easily see how much food you are wasting which helps you to tweak your buying and storing to make less waste and save money.  The less waste you make the easier it is to deal with.  When we are away on collection day it is now no big deal. We have a small dustbin inside just on the boundary and line this with a bin bag.  It takes several months to fill with the residual waste as we can recycle so much now kerbside.

Philippa Bond ● 4422d