Christmas Tree Collection

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on January 11, 2008 at 10:49

Thanks, Hugh for publicising this service. Full details are on the Council's website at this page.

But photos on Flickr (1) , (2) , (3) suggest many residents were unaware their Christmas trees could be recycled or how to do it.

The mess of dumped trees was made worse by the fact that, this Christmas & New Year many residents were confused about waste collection schedules. Given when the holidays fell, the obvious arrangement was that the Christmas & Boxing Day catch-up collections should have been done over the weekend.

Instead we got disruption and uncertainty. While many streets had normal collections. others had none for two weeks. Result: widespread confusion; rubbish dumped in the streets; and very few people clear about when they'd get their recycling collected.

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Permalink Reply by Helen1 on January 11, 2008 at 10:58

But the council did issue details about the refuse collection schedule over Christmas and New Year, along with instructions for Christmas tree disposal. I think it was printed in the "People" magazine that is delivered every now and then. Having said that, I did think that the collection dates were unfairly sparse for some roads.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on January 11, 2008 at 11:35

Hi Helen, you're right, of course. The Council did tell people. The cover of the Haringey People magazine (coloured green) showed a Christmas tree and had the strap-line:"Dreaming of a green Christmas". The waste collection schedules were printed on the back cover. In addition, George Meehan's Leader's column made a point of flagging-up the collection arrangements - including two paragraphs on page 15 about recycling Christmas trees.

But, as a local councillor myself, I believe we need to be honest and accept some responsibility when things don't work as smoothly as they should. Since Christmas and the New Year, just walking round the streets, it's clear that many residents haven't got the green message. Many haven't even got the clean message.

The half-dozen Flickr photos I linked to were taken in Bruce Grove ward. Most of were taken by a family who do recycle and did recycle their Christmas tree. But not because they saw Haringey People.

Is there really any doubt that the Christmas/New Year collection schedules made things worse in streets which had no collection for a fortmight?

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Permalink Reply by Helen1 on January 11, 2008 at 11:50

No doubt at all!
As a councillor, please could you flag this issue up prior to next year's Christmas/New Year?

The problem isn't just with Christmas trees though, it's with furniture, rubbish and all sorts of junk that people dump, especially at the Ladder road crossings. Any chance of doing something about that as well? How about a sticker on the top of every barrier saying something like: "Please do not dump rubbish here. Call Accord on (tel no.) to arrange removal free of charge".

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on January 21, 2008 at 0:30

Sorry for the delay replying, Helen.

The issue of the Christmas and New Year waste and recycling collections was flagged up - by Bruce Grove councillor Ray Dodds. Unfortunately, he's got nowhere.

To be fair, across the borough, there's no simple solution. In past years, everyone's service was disrupted to some extent - until Accord was able to catch-up. This year if you were lucky, you weren't affected at all. (Our normal collection day is Monday and so we were among the lucky ones.) Residents elsewhere had no collection for a fortnight; and some people were understandably pissed-off. Others took things into their own hands and dumped.

You and other residents may want to suggest this is brought-up at the next St Ann's and Harringay Neighbourhood Assembly on 28 January. This is chaired by Gina Adamou, a Harringay ward councillor. (gina.adamou@haringey.gov.uk)

The assembly is usually attended by councillors from both wards - who include Cllr Brian Haley, the "cabinet" member for the Environment, responsible for Waste Management. (brian.haley@haringey.gov.uk)

For details of the Area Asembly, contact: Sharon Annafi 020 8489 4928.

About the dumping problem, as I'm not one of the local councillors, my information about Harringay is very patchy. As far as I know, dumping on the Ladder roads crossings has been discussed at The Green Lanes Strategy Group, which includes councillors, Council officers, residents, landlords and traders. In fact this Group was set up with dumping and waste management as one of its initial issues. It led to the timed bag collections - which I've heard are reasonably successful.

But if arrangements no longer seem so effective, they could be looked at again - especially as many people tend to move in and out of the Ladder roads. For any initiative to be successful, it's not just valuable but essential to have active involvement from current residents and traders.

I'd suggest talking first to the Neighbourhood Manager, Dasos Maliotis. He's been involved in tackling these problems for several years. (0208 489 4936)

I hope this is helpful.

Alan

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