Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Tiny new pink binliners for flats above shops on Green Lanes: Unnecessary bureaucracy or effective waste management?
I eventually received the pink general waste recycling bags I have previously written to you about, approximately 5 weeks after my initial request and plenty of chasing up. A very helpful manager called Ayer arranged for them to be personally delivered to me in person.
The issues for me as a resident living above a shop (with no front or back gardens with wheely bins are:
(1) Poor communication causing late delivery. Auto response emails saying we will respond in 10 days after requesting bin liners are not good enough. It's worse when you don't get a response after that (as what happened in my case initially. Inevitably there will be teething problems with any new system, but as I hardly see any pink bin liners on green lanes, somehow the message or delivery of the bags is somehow not getting through.
(2)The Viola reps (the organisation contacted to collect rubbish) do not know how many units there are in each block. In my building there are 3 flats and the rep who first visited me initially thought there were 2. This would inevitably get more complicated in houses of multiple occupancy. If the bags are not sent to a named person, all residents are not likely to receive them. (I appreciate that there may be health and safety and other logistical issues about the reps entering the buildings)
(3) But at the end of the day are the new tiny pink bags necessary, given these complications? It's great that you have been offering green colour coded for bags for domestic recycling for a long time now. However, is the new separation of general and domestic waste for flat above shops a new layer of bureaucracy that adds to confusion? As the collection times for both domestic and general waste are the same time and presumably the rubbish gets disposed of in the same place, I'm not sure that the separation is necessary on green lanes. (However, it may be for residential properties away from shops in the side streets).
(4) The new evening collection times of 4 to 5 are not suitable for people who work. The previous night slot was 9.30 pm to 11 or 11.30, so is this a cut in the service, disguised as an improvement with different shades of bin liners? Bin bags also make the street more unsightly in the middle day of the day, rather than late at night when it's dark.
(5) The new pink general waste bin liners for domestic bags are half the size of the green recycling bags and the standard black that I have been buying for decades. They are too small for standard bins and create a mess every time I try empty them. Has there been any consultation, thought or information about this minor but significant detail? For people with chronic health problems, this makes emptying a bin more exhausting and messy than necessary. It won't be fair to expect people to buy new bins, especially if there just bought one before the new tiny pink bin liners were introduced)
I look forward to hearing your views on this, as well as the views of other residents, as I'll post this on Harringay on line as well.
Many thanks
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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I have a very small bin for my general refuse and only need to empty it every 2-3 weeks. I have a larger bin for my recycling and empty it weekly. Almost everything is recyclable these days.
I work in waste enforcement and suspect the reason for the colour coding is to tell the difference between domestic and commercial refuse - so that if any black bags are put out for collection officers can investigate and take action if necessary. This is open to abuse if commercial premises manage to get hold of the domestic bags but if the bags are small they won't be very useful to the shops.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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It can be both. When I was young in NZ you got 52 very flimsy bags when you paid your rates each year (council tax). If you wanted more bags you had to pay for them. They were not pink but nevertheless distinctive and the council would only collect these bags. Recycling was free.
I think the rest of your problem is general poor public service.
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Permalink Reply by JJ B on
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Just remove any trace of id and put your general rubbish in a street bin. Your rates include this collection anyway.
People may say this is uncivic but what else can you do?
If the coucnil can't get its act togetehr you need to take things into your own hands. Just do not put it on the road side NEXT to the bin.
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That does not solve the problem. People just put their rubbish in any old bag (or not as it is) and on the side of the bins anyway. Drive down Philip Lane any moering and you'll se the heaps next to the street bins along with the flytipped stuff. So providing special bags does not necessarily solve the issue
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Here is a set of town centre communal bins in this Parisian suburb (for both genral and recyled waste). They are located next to a very busy street and teh town square and are accessible to people living in town centre flats nearby but are not restricted use.
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The biggest problem is that the recyling 'agenda' was seen as a way to cut the cost of refuse collection and not necessarily to really increase recycling, reduce fly tipping and generally improve the public realm. It seems to be thought about in a very piece-meal way with each department coming up with solutions to its own 'problems. In the case of refuse collection they brought in a one size fits all solution that has created its own sets of problems that they are now spending scarce resources - time and employee time - to solve. The BIG bins in their multiple versions now clutter the street scene in front gardens, or block pavements in streets where homes don't have front gardens or where their gardens can't be used to store the bins.
On Tottenham High rd the solution to the commercial pink bag problem was to add more clutter to the already extremely neglected and street cluttered pavement by placing collection boxes
The result in a public realm in a mess and refuse collection that doesn't really serve the public's needs. Sigh!
There are also few national policy moves to really reduce the amount of packaging that you leave the shop with. The recent introduction of a non univeersal charge for plastic carrier bags is the smallest possible step in the right direction. Why is it so difficult to get solutions that exist elsewhere to be put into effect here?
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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I've mentioned before. I think it would be more cost effective and efficient to have one London wide system rather the current 32+1 differing systems. It would also be possible to pool resources in order to provide better incineration and production of energy from waste.
My own city uses all waste to create energy and community heating. Even sewage is dried, made into heating bricks for energy production. We also have a national system where all retailers are obliged to take back all unwanted packaging.. i.e. Leaving the corn flakes carton at the supermarket and just taking the inner bag home. This very quickly results in retailers reviewing and cutting down on packaging and bags. We also have a nation wide deposit system for all glass bottles 0,08€ and yoghurt glasses 0,15€, as well as plastic bottles 0,25€.
Bottles, plastic are glass are mostly never thrown away and magpies (mostly the homeless) collect them up to get some extra cash. The city's refuse department has reacted by providing racks for used bottles next to bins, so that they don't have to use the bins. I guess in the U.K. they'd be crimialised for taking 'other people's rubbish'.
Bottle racks.
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Interesting..
Some examples of ours:
Railway station
Doggy Bag dispenser and pedal bin
How to separate rubbish
Communal bins
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