Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Bi-Weekly bin collections coming to Harringay
With bi weekly rubbish collections coming our way this summer, Liberal Democrat politicians in parts of the borough where it's already operating have been making it known that they strongly oppose fortnightly waste collections and have called for an urgent review of the changes to the service.
But the Labour-led council says it has no plans to review the bin collections and claim that most people in the borough have responded positively to the changes.
The move, which is expected to save the council £900,000 per year, aims to encourage more people to recycle. Garden and food waste is still collected weekly.
The changes, which include replacing small green recycling boxes with large wheelie bins, were introduced to the west of the borough at the beginning of March.
Tags for Forum Posts: fortnightly waste collections, new recycling bins, rubbish, veolia, waste collection
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Laura on
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So if I understand this correctly, it's not exactly "bi-weekly bin collections" at all... it's bi-weekly LANDFILL COLLECTIONS and WEEKLY recycling and food waste collections? If that is the case then it seems reasonable to me. IMHO. Every week my landfill bin is about 5% full. My recycling boxeS are both full and my food waste container is full.
The problem is going to be getting householders to do the right thing. I hope that Haringey Council/Veolia have set aside a decent budget for communications and PR and getting the message across to people about what goes where....?! A few pounds out of that £900,000...? At the bare minimum, they need to leaflet every household in Haringey.
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Permalink Reply by JulieB on
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Hurrah, we really need a bigger recycling bin - I would be happy with a much smaller landfill bin.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Harvey on
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Here here, I'd suggest they'd need to spend probably all of that £900k on comms in the first year to hammer the message home, otherwise it'll be a shambles, particularly in this part of the borough where there are so many HMOs with over-flowing bins at the best of times....
After that, they'd need to spend a sigt. sum on PR and comms every year to keep the message going given the highly transient nature of this area..
Here's hoping those responsible at the council are taking notes of the concerns and have set suitable funds aside for this... otherwise it's going to be a rat-tastic summer......
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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I actually think Veolia is contracted to do the PR and Comms on this. I've seen their 'plan' to target problem streets although I questioned whether it was comprehensive enough. If people are allowing rubbish to pile up in front gardens, then it does need to be reported to the council. If its more general then the local councillors need to be kept informed of problems (just so long as they don't use it as an excuse to call for the return of weekly collections for 'landfill/incinerator' rubbish).
The issue re keeping the message going is a key one. There needs to be work with local landlords to ensure waste disposal is explained to tenants and there does need to be regular leafletting of households. Going into schools is being done I believe but that could also be a regular occurrence.
I do share others concerns about whether Veolia is up to the job and I think its down to all of us to hold them accountable as raising recycling rates, reducing 'landfill' and saving taxpayers money was what they contracted to do.
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Permalink Reply by JJ B on
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received my leaflet today through the post box.
Still...two huge 240 litres wheely binis in front gardens amke the palce look like trash!
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The policy for fortnightly rubbish collections is really poorly thought out in Haringey and the LibDem councillors are right to call the Labour group out on their lack of consultation and the way their are rolling this out across the Borough. The take-up of food recycling in the Borough is terrible and the council has done nothing to promote, let alone force, this - through Veolia or otherwise. I'm originally from Swansea where they managed to get this policy SPOT ON and residents have really bought into the fortnightly collections. But it's essential that the coucil puts the ground work in first.
1) Every household needs to be given a food recycling bin. And it really has to be one of the plastic, sealable and easily cleanable types that are used at the moment, not the 'bag for life' types that I think the coucil are likely to revert to in a cost-cutting measure like some other Boroughs in London. A few neighbours have been refused boxes or have been told they'd get them but the box hasn't arrived... hardly promotion of recycling.
2) There has to be a significant communication / promotion activity to explain the merits of food recycling to residents so that they start doing it. This also needs to come with fair warning and long lead-time / consultation on the introduction on fortnightly food waste collection so that people can get into the routine of doing this. This is about changing habit and culture.
3) Give people bio-degradable bin liners. Currently, you have to pay for them. And they aren't cheap! You can't use any old biodegradable bin liners, of course - they have to have the special logo printed ON the liner or the food waste goes to land fill. This means that you have to buy the most expensive ones available in a select few stores around town - the cheaper ones tend to just have the logo printed on the box. A lot of people in the Borough can't affort to pay £5 for 40 bin liners.
All of these things could have been done this year if the council accepted the central governement offer of money to cover weekly bin collections. There is no need to rush through with this policy - this is a real cart-before-the-horse scenario. A cost saving policy dessed up as an environmental one.
A fortnightly bin collection is generally fine if you already recycle your food waste and your neighbours do, too. There are many parts of the borough, though, where there will be a really tough transition period which could have been avoided if there was some thought put into the policy and this, fundamentally, is what the Lib Dem group is really raising with their opposition.
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I'm neither for or against at this stage. Has happened to my folks in Muswell Hill already - they seem ok as do their neighbours.... But...
1) They have bigger front gardens. We've been looking at ours wondering where all these bins will fit!
2) There is a schedule sent around to say when bins are being collected. Really?! Can't it be a little easier to predict? I quite like knowing it all goes on a Monday. I don't think I want to have to worry about finding a schedule to know what's going and when. Surely if we do need a schedule, it could be put online for example?
3) We got a natty double bin, as a re-use item from the council dump. They said my wife couldn't take it at first... Then they let her have it. That really helps us recycle more and keep the kitchen cleaner. Why no re-use or re-claim at the dumps? They have some good things being thrown out there!!
4) Totally agree with the above point re special bags. They are expensive and it's easy to buy the wrong ones (which look pretty much identical). If the council is saving by moving to these bi-weekly collections, can they not get some kind of bulk deal on these infernal bags, and give them out free?
5) Veolia haven't replaced the wheelie bin of ours that they broke 4 weeks + ago now, I dred to see what mess they make of distributing thousands of the things! And yes, Veolia broke our wheelie bin - what kind of careless collection behaviour leads to a whopping split down the side of one of these things?!
6) We've been composting using 2 x composters in our back garden for a couple of years now. Makes a massive difference to quantities which go out front, and gives us lots of free soil a couple of times a year. Perhaps more should be done to encourage others to do so...
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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A well thought-out contribution, Craig. With some fair criticisms and useful suggestions.
Now, in the interest of openness and transparency, would you like to tell us your links to the local LibDems?
(Labour councillor Tottenham Hale ward)
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Of course - I'm a party member. I help deliver leaflets. An activist, I guess? First and froemost I'm a resident, neighbour and active member of my community.
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You say the campaign is irresponsible. In what way? I don't think people are saying that they don't want to recycle. They may be saying that they don't want to have 2 weeks of rubbish being held in a bin in front of their house AND have another huge bin taking up space in their front garden, just adding to the already trashy feel of the neighbourhoods. The single bins are already UNSIGHTLY in front gardens. At last night's WG and BG area forum the young lady from Veolia told me that they won't be giving out smaller bins any more!
In some other european countries the recycling rates are higher AND they have DAILY refuse collections in big cities. What about, inter alia, reducing the amount of packaging that is forced upon us by shops, and introducing a high tax on throw away bags - my grandmother always went to the market and supermarket with her own bags. As a small household I can't buy out of the ordinary potatoes from many supermarkets unless I want to consume at least a kilo. You see, there are other ways to get the recycling rates up and food wastage down instead of this VERY CRUDE system that just reminds us of how backward London is concerning refuse collection. a lot more has to be done through education, etc because even with 2 bins etc there are people who just don't care.
So please let me know where the connection is between the number of collections and the amount of recycling.
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