Wide-ranging improvements to refuse and recycling services
Ealing Council’s Cabinet approved wide-ranging improvements to the borough’s refuse and recycling services on Tuesday.
We asked Jason Stacey whether, in the light of all the controversial discussions about fortnightly rubbish collections, he would be considering such a move. He replied:
"Ealing will be staying with weekly collections."
Services are being revamped using a £3.8 million first-year investment package with customer service in mind. Improvements to be rolled out from November 2007 include the introduction of a same-day missed collection service for items reported before 5pm and a bulky waste appointment-based service that cuts at least three days off current waiting times.
In a bid to cut down on rubbish left out too early, special signs will be put up setting out each road’s collection day and times from January 2008. And, as part of the Council’s mission to improve street cleanliness refuse and recycling will take place on the same day, so that street cleaning can take place the following day.
Some Southall residents will be given free wheelie bins in which to store their rubbish. The areas to get wheelie bins include all of Southall Green and Southall Broadway wards. In Lady Margaret ward homes west of and including Allenby Road will get the bins – as well as the stretch of Allenby Road over the ward boundary in Greenford Broadway. In Dormers Wells ward properties to the west of and including Dormers Wells Lane will get the bins. In Norwood Green homes north of the canal and west of and including Glade Lane will get the bins.
Recycling services will also benefit from added investment. Garden waste collections will go weekly from November, making it even easier for green-fingered residents to recycle. Re-usable garden sacks will replace the disposable pink sacks. This will mean that people will always have sacks whenever they want to garden. Moving to reusable sacks will also save the Council money. New sacks cost 50p each and have a three-year life while existing sacks cost 35p and can only be used once.
Other improvements include the introduction of plastic recycling to household collections. To make it as easy as possible for all homes to recycle the Council will collect all plastics with the exception of garden furniture and toys. Plastics will then be sorted so that as many items as possible are recycled with non-recyclable products taken out for disposal.
And it is not just people who live in houses who will benefit from the extra investment in recycling services. Residents in 1,000 flats will take part in a six-month trial to offer a mixed dry recycling bag for home collection. Communal recycling on estates will also be extended to cover all remaining estates, allowing a further 3,224 homes to recycle. In addition, a pilot scheme to provide communal bins for people living in flats will be rolled out in 20% of locations across the borough.
Council Leader Jason Stacey said: “The recent consultation shows that people feel very strongly about refuse and recycling collections. We promised to listen to what people wanted as well as really trying to find out what worked well and what didn’t. The package we have come up with aims to provide a much better standard of service to all residents while keeping things a simple as possible. As a result, all collections will take place on the same day and any problems should be sorted out on the day they are reported. To make recycling as easy as possible we’ve expanded services so that people can recycled most things from home.
“In Southall, we have decided to introduce wheelie bins in those roads where there was majority support for them and it was practical operationally. We believe that by taking rubbish off the streets these bins will really help to tackle the problem of rats in the area, especially around the town centre.”
May 3, 2007