Attn councillors: Has Southwark council cut litter pickers?

[Passiflora]

James Barber Wrote:

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> Southwark Council state they litter pick every

> street every two days and sweep streets every four

> weeks.

> But clearly this isn't working.

>

> Amazingly still almost 100% manual sweeping and

> almost zero mechanisation.

Went past Sunray Avenue this morning and there was one guy who had done a great job sweeping up a path free of leaves. The whole length of Sunray Avenue has been full of fallen leaves for days.

Nearby in Sunray Gardens there is a lone Southwark litter picker who has been there for years. His job is made harder by the local primary and secondary school children who regularly leave lots of litter.

[sarahsouthlondon]

Thanks James from Southwark for replying.

And James Barber too - there is no way this is the case though! No way litter is being picked every two days. Since I originally posted my kids and I did a big litter pick on Sunray Avenue - they thought it was great fun, I was happy to get them motivated but sad there was SO MUCH to pick up including multiple alcohol bottles.

Since then I have noticed that Dulwich Village looks a bit tidier and there was some bagged up litter and I saw the leaves being cleared on Sunray Avenue - so very welcome improvement.

I also second the post above - while litter picking every two days would be great - once a week, or twice a week is perhaps more achievable.

Also agree re school kids and litter ... I know Charter School try to address this with their pupils but they don't seem to listen. I think the local primaries would be really happy to raise awareness with their kids and parents too. I might raise it with them. Though don't really want to add another burden to already very pressurised headteachers.

[Pugwash]

We live on the corner of a main road and bus route and frequently have litter blown into our garden. Every so on I gather it up and bin it, also at times clear the pavement in front of my house. If everyone can do a little each week, that would assist.

[Nigello]

Goodrich, or at least the bits over Barry Road and away from LL, have been cleared of dead leaves. Dunstans tends to be more litter-strewn and some of it looks very aged!

[Monkey]

Dunstans Road doesn?t look aged. It?s got new pavements and road surfacing unlike many roads in ED. And it didn?t use to have a litter problem. This is linked to a very small number of households who were too lazy to order new wheelie bins to replace their broken ones (had to do it for them) and one other household constantly overfilling their blue bin.

Councillors, if a household doesn?t look after their bins properly so rubbish flies out, does this count as littering? Can they be fined? I?ve really had enough this time.

[Nigello]

I wss referring to the litter looking aged which suggests that it had been hidden by leaves or not picked up for a long time.

[Monkey]

Ok get it. I agree it?s bad. And having lived there for 10 years this never used to be the case. It?s not the school children. It?s literally a couple of households being stupid.

[wonderwoman]

There are obvious consequences of the reduction of cleaning for one the increase of vermin and foxes in the area. On another thread there have been reported links to cat killings in the area. One poor young cat died of his injuries recently I was told which was really sad to hear. Foxes are becoming more brave and fearless of humans, especially with their growing numbers and young to feed.

[Penguin68]

On another thread there have been reported links to cat killings in the area.

I think the 'link' was to secondary predation on cats already killed or severely injured following (car) accidents. There has been no suggestion that foxes are primary predators of cats (kittens, possibly). The reason why we have urban foxes is that there is ample food for them, without them needing to attack large domestic animals such as cats or dogs. Injured cats (not involved in car accidents) are more likely to have been injured by other cats or by large dogs.

[spark67]

Last week there was a guy with a leaf blower clearing our road, only thing was he was just blowing it into everyones front gardens, I just watched amazed as I was coming down our path and as he was going a long swaying his blower and as he got passed ours he blew a massive pile onto my pat ... it just made me laugh at the cheek of it (though I had to sweep it up later) 😂

[Monkey]

Dunstans Road is an absolute disgrace today. A walk down the road this morning showed a front garden full of rubbish from a bin bag left out for the foxes to open, two sofas and a matress left out, a coat rack, shelves, a suitcase and lots of cardboard, all from different households. Are people not aware of the Veolia waste management centre?

[Sue]

Monkey Wrote:

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> Dunstans Road is an absolute disgrace today. A

> walk down the road this morning showed a front

> garden full of rubbish from a bin bag left out for

> the foxes to open, two sofas and a matress left

> out, a coat rack, shelves, a suitcase and lots of

> cardboard, all from different households. Are

> people not aware of the Veolia waste management

> centre?

Not everybody has cars.

Somebody on this forum posted some time ago asking if anybody was going to the waste management centre, and subsequently posted again, and to the best of my knowledge has had no response.

The council now charge for the collection of bulk waste, don't they?

I'm not defending dumping stuff, but if someone has no car and no spare money, what are they supposed to do?

And aren't Veolia supposed to collect cardboard with the blue bin recycling?

[Monkey]

A lot of my neighbours have cars and money! And if you have money to buy all that stuff that comes in big cardboard boxes, you should have money to pay for bulk disposal. Or you could keep it in your house and get it out on the day the bin men come. When there?s a will, there?s a way.

[Nigello]

Maybe neighbours could offer to let those with lots of cardboard to use their blue bins? I offer to my neighbours and they sometimes use it, if there is room. I agree that Dunstans Road looks messy because of the lack of space (soemetimes) in front yards/gardens for bins so any extra refuse would make it look worse.

[Monkey]

Honestly, I walked down the road this morning and it made me angry. Dunstans Riad is in a real state.

We have one blue bin for two households so there?s no room in mine, unfortunately. The solution is really for people to learn to manage their waste.

[alex_b]

Nigello Wrote:

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> Maybe neighbours could offer to let those with

> lots of cardboard to use their blue bins? I offer

> to my neighbours and they sometimes use it, if

> there is room. I agree that Dunstans Road looks

> messy because of the lack of space (soemetimes) in

> front yards/gardens for bins so any extra refuse

> would make it look worse.

I always collapse big boxes and put them neatly by our blue bin and they?re always collected. It?s they polystyrene that?s a real pain as it completely fills the green bin and isn?t collected if it?s bagged separately.

[Monkey]

1 or 2 boxes ok, but not 10 casually left on the pavement. And not with added polystyrene which gets everywhere, I ageee, and not with a suitcase added on for good measure.

[tomskip]

I agree Monkey. The amount of rubbish and fly tipping really gets me down.

[Blah Blah]

Sadly the council are under financial pressure and some difficult decisions have to be made. Adult social care or subsidising bulk waste collection is one of them. As far as I know, the fee is ?16 to have the council remove bulk rubbish. There are higher fees and requirements for commercial waste, which is why fly tipping is perhaps on the rise. It's not an easy one to fix.