Bins on pavements

[twinhunters]

Is it just me , many people seem to leave bins on pavement,not just on bin day , east dulwich grove is awful

Had to walk into road with double buggy Tuesday and Thursday what with trees as well . Think I might put a polite notice though doors .

[DulwichFox]

Some Bin men seem to be leaving bins outside on the pavement and not returning to front gardens.

[cella]

The bin men are not required to put bins back. With the new rules residents are supposed to place their bins on the edge of the property in time for pick up. The garden waste bin has to be presented with the sticker visible.

[cohen22]

Try a single with a buggy board.

[Digbina]

You can notify the council. We recently received a letter reminding us that bins have to be kept within the boundary of the property as there had been complaints about bins blocking the pavement of our road.

[bels123]

Report it, info here https://www.southwark.gov.uk/transport-and-roads/roadworks-and-highway-improvements/obstructions-on-roads-and-pavements

[Penguin68]

With the new rules residents are supposed to place their bins on the edge of the property in time for pick up

This is, of course, a ridiculous requirement - it assumes that everyone has a 'garden' frontage without walls - someone with a normal frontage with a gate into the street would block access by leaving up to 3 bins (two large, one small) in the gateway (but still inside their property; someone without a garden frontage would not be able to place their bins for collection elsewhere than in the street. Once placed 'on the edge of the property' but outside your curtilage this is no longer 'within the boundary of the property'.

And for anyone whose property fronts directly onto the street, without a 'front garden' of whatever size it would be entirely impossible to meet the council's requirements.

Only those with wide openings from their front garden into the street would be able to place their bins for collection on the edge of the property but still within it, and still be able to access their own front doors 'through' the bins.

Maybe the council and their officers are looking for another fines bonanza!

[DulwichFox]

My front garden is 4" long. enough to fit 2 bins side by side just inside the gate.

Not too much effort required.

My regular Brown Bin man is a lovely helpful fellow.

Dulwichfox.

[goldilocks]

I don?t think that the bins on the street is anything to do with collection days, it?s that lots of properties are conversion flats and haven?t allowed for suitable bin storage (even though in many cases it could be done). Some actual enforcement that bins can?t be left on the pavement would address this but doesn?t happen. Some streets are particularly bad and not passable with buggies or wheelchairs

[anchor]

It seems that many bins are left on the pavements by people who live in houses that have room in their front gardens for them but just don't want bins there. In one area there were seventeen bins on the pavement the other day and all the front gardens could easily hold them.

A few years back this problem was solved by enforcement officers putting a notice through doors to say "Any refuse bins found abandoned on the Public Highways will be treated as an offence under the Enviromental Protection Act 1990". Instantly all the offending bins were pulled off the pavement.

Southwark say they know there is a huge problem but will not be issuing those notices again. Why not? It was cheap and effective.

[cella]

anchor Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> It seems that many bins are left on the pavements

> by people who live in houses that have room in

> their front gardens for them but just don't want

> bins there. In one area there were seventeen bins

> on the pavement the other day and all the front

> gardens could easily hold them.

>

> A few years back this problem was solved by

> enforcement officers putting a notice through

> doors to say "Any refuse bins found abandoned on

> the Public Highways will be treated as an offence

> under the Enviromental Protection Act 1990".

> Instantly all the offending bins were pulled off

> the pavement.

>

> Southwark say they know there is a huge problem

> but will not be issuing those notices again. Why

> not? It was cheap and effective.

Have Southwark actually said they won't be writing to residents? We have a big problem with bins permanently stored on pavements and we were considering logging on to the link mentioned in an earlier post.

[anchor]

Southwark say they will no longer write to residents as sending repeat letters has no effect. Of course that will not have an effect unless they back it up with enforcement.

[cella]

Have they written to you to say that? Otherwise it seems strange to have a link to report this sort of thing. After it's reported wonder what they do with the information. I'll give it a go anyway.

[anchor]

Lisa Carberry Waste Technical Officer on [email protected] replied to a report made via the link and said exactly that.

[worldwiser]

I've had a really really good look at all the information on Southwark's 'bins and recycling' website and all of its subsections. I can't find any information at all regarding the positioning of bins. Can someone point me to where I can find these new 'rules?'

[cella]

The new position is in the leaflet sent to all households outlining the arrangements for garden waste subscription/collections.

[sally buying]

Has anyone noticed that when Southwark brings in in arrangements for anything it usually results in chaos?

The new operations by some bin men seems to be throw the bins anywhere. Why were there no major problems before?

It is summer people are away and bins seem to be thrown into house entrances to be left till people return from holiday.

My bins were always taken and put back just inside the front entrance now they seem thrown anywhere to save time.

Advertising we are away. Putting bins back by neighbours as many places are transient renters seems to be a thing of the past. Written to Southwark and the police about this, ignored.

[Penguin68]

Part of the problem is that Veolia has been changing all the routes (and changing the teams on the routes) - so that bin men who knew the area and where bins were meant to go are now working in different areas without that knowledge. Change normally p**s people off, so the bin men now in your area don't any longer really care, they just want to get the job over, as (because it's new to them) it appears to take longer. If you're familiar with a route/ area you know what to expect etc. The route changes have been caused by the removal of the large bins so that more of the work is decanting small caddies into a large bin being hauled by a front man - as it is large bins which get tipped into the lorries, not small ones. For those who just now put waste straight into the caddies (no liners) this is a much nastier job for the bin men, particularly in hot weather.

Just imagine the joy when the (generally efficient) Veolia back-office is replaced by council staff (as is now official Labour policy) - and we all know how good these are at delivering value and efficiency - we just have this exercise for instance to go by.

[73jem]

Does anyone know when the contents of the large and small bins will be collected separately.

I ask because last week my small bin was missed, not great in hot weather, so I now put everything into the large bin as it all goes together anyway.

[Nigello]

Dunstan's (Dunstans?) is particularly bad from Goodrich up the hill on the right hand side. Some houses have no space but others do and choose not to put them inside their garden. It looks ugly and encourages flytipping but, hey, if it's easier for them who are we to argue the benefits of neighbourliness?

[worldwiser]

I've managed to locate a copy of the leaflet and it says nothing new when compared to previous leaflets from prior years. The statement 'edge of your property' was the same thing it said years ago. I don't believe a thing has changed.

[Digbina]

We got the warning letter only a couple of weeks ago. It did have some effect although the top third of our street is as bad as ever (more flats at that end).

[fishbiscuits]

Not sure if this is the same everywhere, but on our road, one guy comes round wheeling all the bins out onto the pavement, then the other guys follow in the truck emptying them. Sometimes they return the bins to the front yards, sometimes they do not. This is particularly annoying as it makes it very obvious if a house is empty for any length of time. And of course is pretty inconvenient for buggies, wheelchairs, etc.

Often - particularly with the style of houses that have stairs up to the doorway and a semi-basement level below - there is no front yard at all. Not sure what the answer is there.

[dds29]

We used live in a terrace of small Edwardian houses with steps and no front area space, so we all had a small bin that fitted next to the front door.Then recycling was introduced and green bins.The recycling box was no problem, but the large green bins had to be hauled over a small wall, (or habitually left on the pavement) When the blue bins were first introduced we were on holiday, and when we returned, our street was like Bin City. Veolia were supposed to have checked the viability of large bins in small spaces; they didn't.

London is full of boroughs with vintage terraces, and the posher ones are required to use separate bags for their rubbish, to be left out only on the day.

After a long and determined struggle we managed to get this for our street, and it worked very well. Environmentally it was a triumph! The problem seems to be multi residential homes where tenants come and go, and no-one thinks they are responsible for the bins.

[peckman]

The answer is that the bins are too big !! They should be the same size .. recylcing bins yes but as we can recycle more general rubbish bins should get narrower .. its the width of the bloody things