My Response to Litter Enforcement

I wanted to reply to the council for their recently published efforts on tackling street littering. It's a great move but I think there are far deeper issues here...

Please feel free to comment/criticize:

Dear Haringey

I just want to say thank you for taking this extra step in ensuring our streets are clean. You are exactly right in saying that litter free streets are key to a high quality of living in any neighborhood. I would go as far as saying it is the number one factor. Having recently moved from Central London I cannot stress enough how fortunate it is to be in a borough with such abundance of nature and wildlife. However too often we find our streets/woods littered as a result of intentional anti-social behavior or lack of care. For example every week litter is dumped in front of Coleridge school by the public with little respect for the residents of Haslemere Road. Enforcement in high traffic areas such as this could definitely be useful.

But unfortunately this behaviour is only half of the issue. Waste pick-ups that are bi-weekly was to be honest, something unheard of and shocking when I moved to the Borough. For it to be less frequent than recycling is strange and possibly highlights statistical objectives as being priority over what really matters to the community. I can live with this, but street cleaning seems to be also either a) infrequent or b) not done properly. I can confidently say that some areas are not cleaned for up to three weeks (or until we log it). Local authorities need to be held accountable for this particular issue - this is what we pay our taxes for. I question the effectiveness of outsourcing such vital duties to those who have little connection or care for the community. The burden cannot be solely put on the public if our street bins are full half of the time. The impact of overflowing bins or refuse sacks left for exposed and subsequently mauled by unsuspecting wildlife has an equally if not more concentrated and devastating impact.

Regards

Zhirayr