Brent Waste Strategy
At a meeting of the KTRA on Monday 4th October 2010, the following was agreed by the whole meeting, nem.con.
The Kensal Triangle Residents Association opposes Brent Council’s proposals for restructuring the waste collection services for the following reasons
1) In this southern corner of the borough, the housing stock is of small Victorian terraced houses with small front gardens. Many of these are in multiple occupancy, and there is no room for additional large bins
2) The area, with a railway line, the cemetery and the canal close by, has an ongoing problem with rat infestations. Food waste in ‘caddies’ will inevitably be a magnet for more rats
3) The current recycling is good in parts, but insufficiently monitored and regulated in parts of the ward. Many ‘green boxes’ are not collected for weeks, because they are not correctly filled. Until this level of recycling is sorted out it seems a wasteful exercise to attempt to implement further schemes
4) Imposing a fortnightly collection of general waste without trialling the recycling changes first will lead to an increase in illegal fly tipping and waste left on the streets, further adding to the rodent problems
The Association fully supports the idea of extending recycling and suggests the following
1) A design competition to create a domestic recycling container that will make it possible for properties in multi occupancy to recycle in bulk without impossible space commitments
2) More secure containers for food waste to eliminate the rodent problem – preferably with biodegradable liners to reduce the ‘yuk’ factor of such bins
3) Any additional recycling system to be trialled whilst the ‘ordinary’ bin collections stay weekly, to assess the situation
4) More thorough enforcement of present recycling protocols
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More Information & Reading:
http://www.brentfoe.com/node/95
http://www.brentfoe.com/node/84
http://democracy.brent.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=2927
http://www.brent.gov.uk/streetcare2.nsf/Files/LBBA-101/$FILE/Waste%20and%20recycling%20storage%20and%20collection%20guidance.pdf
http://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/waste-strategy-challenged.html
http://democracy.brent.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=780
http://www.harrowobserver.co.uk/west-london-news/local-harrow-news/2010/11/17/legal-threat-to-brent-s-bin-policy-116451-27671110/
http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=5629&listitemid=56060
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Background
Brent is proposing a radical revamp of the waste collection and recycling on the Borough.
They are not the only borough to be doing this, and it’s not without good reason.
Each year central Government is increasing the amount of Tax that councils have to pay on land fill, which is where traditional bin rubbish ends up.
This is to encourage recycling, and reduce the amount of waste that ends up in land fill.
Last year brent paid a staggering 9 million pounds - up on the 3 million the year before.
Unfortunately they have chosen the “sledgehammer to crack a nut” approach and haven’t really thought through what they are proposing.
There is a lot of opposition to what is proposed.
For one thing they are going to “mixed” collection of recycling, as opposed to the “kerbside sorting” which we currently have.
The justification for this is that more things can be recycled this way, but the reality is that mixed recycled material is more likely to be contaminated, and will not always be able to be recycled here in the UK.
Yes that’s right it goes abroad - green eh?
On Top of this what’s not been made very clear is that the traditional bin refuse collection will become fortnightly as opposed to weekly as it is currently, and they want to provide an additional wheel y bin for recycling to each household.
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