Ealing Council changed how it collects garden waste recycling at the beginning of April. As I highlighted in December Ealing Council is now charging an addition £40 a year for residents to use garden waste recycling collection. I have already discussed why I see this as a barrier to entry for residents to use recycling services, thus promoting fly tipping, so I won't dwell on that!
The changes in how gardening waste is recycled has also occurred when Ealing Council changed garbage collection contractors. Let's just say this change has had a few teething problems. In fact so many that for the first week at least, it seemed that garbage and recycling collection seemed to be optional! There were stories of people having garbage on the streets for 2 weeks outside their houses. Pretty rank really. Anyway I am sure there is more than enough written about this debarcle already, so lets concentrate on the new recycling bins! Needless to say if your garbage or recycling collection has been missed (and lets face it is seems that most people's have been!) then you can report the issue on the Ealing Council website. Hopefully that might trigger some action for you?
The above image shows the new garden recycling bins that were provided to residents in early April. There are also recycling sacks that can be used, up to two per household, that so far have not been delivered to residents. At least not the folks who live on my street. Residents who ordered recycling sacks have been asked to continue using their existing sacks, that can be seen below.
The old Ealing Council Garden Waste Recycling Sacks
So the bin above, that probably holds the same amount of recycling as three of the old sacks, is only collected fortnightly. This is a real issue in Spring and Summer when flourishing gardens create quite a deal of waste! The picture below shows my new recycling bin almost full after 3 hours of gardening on Saturday. This was the result of mowing half the lawn, and pruning back a few plants! If I were to trim the hedges as well and mow the back lawn, which I may have to do next weekend, then this bin will be overflowing.
Anyway it is still early days. Hopefully a fortnightly collection of garden waste won't result in additional fly-tipping. I know during the Spring and Summer I will have to be making additional visits to the Greenford Reuse and Recycling Centre, but this is not an option for everyone. I have made several visits here recently due to:
- my recycling simply not being collected during the Ealing Council garbage contractor change over. I simply got sick of waiting for it to be picked up so I did it myself. Can I charge Ealing Council mileage for this? ;-)
- Not being made aware that garden waste would not be collected in the first week when the new garden waste recycling scheme came into being. Unfortunately there was no notification given to residents as to when the recycling would be collected. Turns out the first week of the new scheme was not a collection week, so again I had to take a complete load of garden waste to the recycling centre.
I also hope that a fortnightly collection of garden waste will not result in additional fly tipping. All I know is that I will have to make additional trips to the recycling centre to manage my recycling. I am essentially paying more for a service that delivers less than half of what it did previously. It is not going to stop me keeping my garden, it will just add to the overhead that I need to do so.
Cheers
M
An Addition: The Greenford Reuse and Recycling Centre is excellent. It is clearly highlighted where you should place your different types of recycling or waste. there are two tips I would offer before visiting:
- Have your recycling separated before going e.g. garden waste, wood, cardboard, glasss, waste etc... It makes it far easier when you get there.
- Get there early! It opens at 8am. If you get there late there are a queue of cars and it can take a while. Given this is eating into your valuable gardening time if you get there early, before the crowd, you minimise the impact!
Totally agree about the garden waste collections - a very short sighted move by the council.
ReplyDeleteThe staff at Greenford Road are very friendly too. the only thing is it seems to me the huge landfill area is a bit wasteful, once rubbish has been thrown into it there's not much chance of anyone reusing or recycling those items!
Good points. I did not mention the staff. They are indeed friendly folk. I always have a bit of banter with them. Not sure what radio station they are playing at the hut at the top, but it always makes me giggle thinking that those guys are into the music that's blaring!
DeleteAlso agree on the 'landfill area'. It's the biggest section, but I think a lot of people don't really separate the trash. That being said think they go through several of the recycling containers each day.
I try not to throw anything into the landfill area but sometimes it's unavoidable.
Remember the Liberal Democrat budget residents would not have had to pay anything. Recycling should be free!
ReplyDeleteStart a compost heap! :)
ReplyDeleteWill definitely give this a try ;-). Thanks for the comment.
DeleteHaving worked as a gardener and teacher for many years in Richmond where this dreadful system is in place here's a few tips to help. Do try and compost any green leaves from plants and weeds but make sure you don't put perennial weed roots in as they won't break down. Dandelions everywhere next year! Mix in shredded paper/cardboard/egg boxes/chopped woody material into this especially with grass cuttings so it doesn't get slimy - you need a mix of green and brown basically. Then wait for gorgeous free compost.
ReplyDeleteWheelie bins - try compressing the waste to increase space - we found putting a trug on top and pressing down hard (or encouraging someone to stand on it) gave us 50% more space. Chop everything small. And try to remember which week you are in! So..thanks Ealing....pay more and do more.
Good tips re. the composting. Thanks for the detail. Will give this a try this year.
DeleteAgreed on the cutting things fine, that definitely helps!
A planned management of garden waste can be a healthy activity for the environment. if someone is not efficient enough to fix the waste then they must go for Garden Waste Removal London company which can operate well with the garden wastes.
ReplyDelete