Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
£25 to have a mattress taken away
On Monday I paid £25 to have a mattress taken away. Today, a day after mine was collected there is a mattress dumped on our road. £25 to have a mattress removed is a lot of money. So is the £25 paying for the collection of x amount of dumped mattresses? Might fewer people dump if they could pay £6 per item instead of a £25 minimum charge for 4 items?
Tags for Forum Posts: rubbish clearance
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on
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it used to be free.
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Permalink Reply by JoeW on
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There were plenty of dumped mattresses even when the council collected for free.
I think that was partly because the free service was for private residents rather than say landlords, or flytippers from neighbouring boroughs, partly because some people didn't realise it was free.
Even so it would be interesting to know if the council has any stats on whether flytipping has increased since the £25 charge were introduced.
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Permalink Reply by Dolomite Police on
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To be honest, the kind of people who think it's OK to fly tip probably couldn't be bothered to take the necessary steps to arrange a free collection either. But it would still be better to not charge for this service and make your money by clobbering those who fly tip. This issue has definitely got worse in the last few years.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Charlotte, yours is the voice of reason. A voice asking a reasonable question. Which to my mind poses further reasonable questions. Such as: is the charge at the 'right price point'. Does it encourage dumping? Of mattresses, or in general? Does it perhaps cost more or maybe not much less to have trucks driving around picking up dumped mattresses? What is the reputational damage to Haringey?
Replying to you, Donald Trump, extremely well briefed prior to his impending visit here, kindly points out that bulky waste collections in Haringey used to be free. Which makes it unfortunate that when Donald's here we won't be able to get near enough to ask him how he'd solve Haringey's dumped mattress problem.
But there is someone else you might want to ask.
Cllr Kirsten Hearn is the new "Cabinet" councillor with the Environment brief. She is also a Haringey representative on the North London Waste Authority and London Councils, Transport & Environment Committee (TEC). Which means that, although a new "cabinet" member, who may not be able to supply a rapid answer, is in an excellent position - and has the authority - to find out if anyone else knows the answers.
I suggest you write to her. You may want to post her reply on HoL or suggest that she herself does so.
Correspondence address:
River Park House
225 High Road
Wood Green N22 8HQ
Email: kirsten.hearn@haringey.gov.uk
Mobile: 07583 119 123
By the way. I wouldn't want Kirsten or anyone else to overlook a problem which sometimes causes embarrassment. That's bedbugs. Of course not every dumped mattress has bedbugs. (Though I was told they were becoming more common.) But if they are snug-as-bugs in a nearby mattress they'll soon get hungry and start walking around looking for someone to give them a nice hot drink.
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Permalink Reply by Charlotte on
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I wrote to Kirsten as suggested below and have directed her to various links here on HOL. I will post any reply I receive
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Thanks for contacting me about this.
Fly tipping is problematic across the borough. There are specific problem areas such as near private rented properties with a high turnover of tenants and empty pieces of wasteland, or where someone else has already dumped something.
Thank you for your suggestion regarding charges. We are reviewing the charges as part of evaluation of the scheme.
When you see things that have been fly tipped, the best way to get it removed is to report it via the Haringey App. Veolia will usually remove the items within 24 hours of their being reported. If you have a smart phone, you can download the app from the app store for free. It is very simple to use.
I will ask officers to address the issue of whether fly tipping has increased since the bulky waste charges came in.
Best wishes
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Thanks Charlotte for writing to Kirsten Hearn and posting her reply.
I must admit that I'm a little disappointed at the rather soothing and uninspiring reply. I'm hoping it came from a Haringey member of staff. My admittedly limited acquaintance with Kirsten suggests that she is a lot more thoughtful, sparky and dynamic.
It is clearly not the case that fly-tipping is equally problematic across the borough. The term "fly-tipping" itself obscures rather than illuminates the nature of the problem.
About "addressing the issue" (I loathe that empty cliché) of charges for bulky waste collection, if senior staff haven't been monitoring and recording the impact then they're failing to do their jobs.
Anyway let's see whether Kirsten's follow-up reply is more substantive.
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Permalink Reply by Martin (Woodside) on
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My instinct and pessimism tells me that if every street within the LBH had a giant advertising board offering free collection of mattresses etc with a freephone number they would still chuck it on the pavement.
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Permalink Reply by Bob Ruggles on
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Best Racket was man offering to Clear Rubbish / Pointing to council Scavenger Teams parked up for Break.
Idiots paid. they moved it out of Front Garden and Parked it in the road away from property sight
Residents can Take Car loads of Rubbish to Western road. N22 . You need ID and Council Tax Bill
Vans need to give 24 Hours Notice
Council used to have Quarterly Rubbish Clear ups - Got Cut - They used to charge for Collection. Forgot reasons that Stopped
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Going to the dump assumes you have a car. I guess you can save up until you have 4 items to be collected and then £25 might not seem so bad but that will make our front gardens even worse than they are now.
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On which note I need to get a mattress picked up next week on Wightman Rd (south end). Does anyone nearby have anything big that needs to go and want to split a collection with me?
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Thank you for your helpful email and also the links to Harringay online which I’ve also read.
We introduced further charges for bulky collection last summer. We had already been charging for some bulky items (fridges, white goods, large electrical) but extended the charge for all bulky items. This was in direct response to budget pressures across the Council. Most other authorities charge for bulky waste collection and our charge is low in comparison to most. For £25 you can get up to four items collected at a time. It is also worth noting there is no incentive in the Veolia contract for them to pick up additional fly-tips. The contract requires them to collect all fly-tips and they have targets for how quickly this should happen. They are performing well in respect of targets for clearance.
Since we introduced the charge we have not seen fly-tips increase and in particular we have not seen an increase in the numbers of bulky items such as mattresses or furniture being tipped. We have noticed that more people are grouping their collections so we pick up two three or four items at a time instead of a single item. We also believe more people are taking items to the Reuse and Recycle Centres.
As consumers we are all becoming more aware of the cost of disposal of waste both in monetary and sustainable terms. People are paying significantly more than £25 for new fridges/ furniture or mattresses and many suppliers will offer to take away old items as part of the sale. We are nonetheless reviewing the impact of the charges we introduced last summer and in particular to consider if they have had any unintended consequences.
In respect of Harringay ward, Green Lanes and the Ladders this has historically been an area which had higher levels of fly-tipping though not necessarily the worst in the borough. Specific spots such as Harringay Passage and Hewitts Road were particularly difficult but we have had some success there. This has been achieved by working with local residents, landlords and businesses to educate and advise, design out problems where possible and also enforce. To be successful we need input from residents. It is important that people report and tell us as much as they can about the who, why, when of fly-tipping. Any information received is treated in strict confidence. We are also keen to support community initiatives such as local clear up schemes and can supply bags, litter pickers and arrange for collection. In common with many authorities we have moved away from providing skips for regular clean up days as they become known quite quickly and are very soon abused by trade waste. However we would consider this sort of thing for an ad hoc community event.
I hope this reply helps and would be happy to discuss further anything we can do together to improve the area where you live.
Yours sincerely
Ian Kershaw
Commissioning & Client Manager (Community Safety, Enforcement and Waste)
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