Council letter re street litter

[Sue]

I expect other people have received a letter from councillor Rosie Shimell asking for views about the local dirty streets and the cut-back in street sweeping from fortnightly to monthly.

I've just replied on the following lines, and I'd be interested to know what other people think.

I live on Ulverscroft Road, and I think that the litter problem is not so much to do with the reduced frequency of street sweeping (which I was not aware had been changed as long ago as 2010) as to do with the bin men (and they are all men so far as I can see) dropping litter.

I may be wrong but my perception is that after the rubbish has been collected there is a lot more litter lying about. A little time spent by the refuse collectors (or whatever their official title is) in picking up what they have dropped would surely be more cost-effective for the council than changing street sweeping back from monthly to fortnightly.

The council could also consider a campaign asking people a) not to drop litter (good luck with that) and b) to keep the pavement and road outside their own home clear of litter, even if they have not dropped it themselves.

The council could also provide extra litter bins. If I pick up litter elsewhere than outside my own house, I may not want to cart it all the way home, but I also feel embarrassed putting it into somebody else's green bin.

[James Barber]

All good points Sue.

[Chillaxed]

If street sweeping is only monthly, I'd suggest that most people are already picking up rubbish in and around their property otherwise we'd be knee-deep in it.

I haven't noticed any coincidence between collections and increased rubbish.

Agree that more litter bins would be useful, but we've loads of dog sh*t bins and it doesn't stop the selfish few ignoring them.

I do think though that a clean environment is important so would support fortnightly sweepings. I wonder what the incremental cost of this would be when set against the jobs created/benefit costs saved. Likely 10 times more than I think.

[Nigello]

Good points, Sue.

I might add that it is possible to ask for a sweep or re-sweep by ringing 020 7525 2000 and giving details of the grot-spot.

James - the current dirty area is the Peckham end of Crystal Palace Road, near the leisure centre, and also the stretch from Barry to Crystal Palace Road on Goodrich Road. The house on the corner has lots of bins that seem to overflow often.

If the dirt is just a can or bottle, then do as I do and pick it up and put it in the nearest bin. It beats doing nothing and works well in tandem with calling the council and letting them know you are dissatisfied.

[DulwichFox]

BEWARE:-

You could be fined for picking up Street Litter and placing it in a bin.

David Baker, 39, of Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, was shocked when he received a fine of ?75 for putting litter he had found on the ground into a trash receptacle.

Baker is known for his enthusiasm when it comes to cleaning up litter, in fact he has won awards and been featured on television programs for his litter-collecting efforts since he started his campaign to raise awareness about littering in Stourbridge six years ago.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/blog/2012/11/05/man-fined-for-picking-up-peoples-litter-and-putting-it-in-the-trash/index.html

If you Google the subject he is not alone.

Fox

[Chocoholic]

I live opposite Peckham Rye Park Colyton Road. The road is a mess full of mud from the football players after they have played their matches. They wipe their football boots all over the kerbs and even on mine and neighbours walls to get the mud off their boots. Can they put something inside the park gates where they can scrape the mud off before getting into their cars. OR change their boots and take them home with them. The road looks an absolute mess after they have left.Ihave

complained to the Council several times - but nothing seems to be done. I appreciate that this is not litter but it isa cleaning issue.

[KidKruger]

When I was a kid like 8-9 yrs old I detested litter being dropped and used to pick it up constantly.

I managed to control it to the point where it was only at school I did it, or on way to/from school.

My friends would often just drop their sweet wrappers where they stood, where there was a circle of us stood there'd be loads of litter when we left. I'd stay behind for a moment to pick it up.

One day my Dad, when emptying my pockets for laundering my trousers and coat, found acres of sweet wrappers and asked me where it'd come from. "where did you get the money for all these sweets ?" he asked. "Oh, they're not my wrappers Dad, they're my friends' sweet wrappers". "What - they gave you this many sweets ? Don't come the smart alec with me lad". "No Dad, they didn't give me the sweets - I just picked-up their litter". "Don't take me for a fool, son".

"No, really, I pick-up my friends' litter all the time, I just forgot to empty my pockets in the school playground on the way home".

Got a right good hiding for that 'lie'.

So kids too, beware of picking-up someone else's litter.

[the-e-dealer]

Now we know whats wrong with you KK!

[Sue]

KidKruger Wrote:

-

> One day my Dad, when emptying my pockets for

> laundering my trousers and coat, found acres of

> sweet wrappers

xxxxxx

You must have had extremely deep pockets, KK!!

Sorry to hear of your traumatic experience though.

[Girl82]

Sue Wrote:

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

> I live on Ulverscroft Road, and I think that the

> litter problem is not so much to do with the

> reduced frequency of street sweeping (which I was

> not aware had been changed as long ago as 2010) as

> to do with the bin men (and they are all men so

> far as I can see) dropping litter.

>

I completely agree with this. My garden was left in a terrible state last week, with loads of litter just dumped all over the front path. I'm assuming it was the bin men as it happened on Tuesday after the collection - plus it was definitely my litter that had been in the bin previously! They seem to be getting worse I think - it never seemed to be a problem before.

I wasn't aware that street sweeping had been reduced to a monthly service. No wonder East Dulwich is looking pretty messy! There does seem to be an inordinate amount of litter on the streets.

[uncleglen]

There are people who put bags of rubbish on top of bins the night before the binmen come and by the morning (7.45 ish) the foxes have ripped them open and the contents are everywhere. This is the only problem I have seen around Crystal palace/ Goodrich roads except for the crisp packets discarded by children around there.

[Girl82]

uncleglen Wrote:

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

> There are people who put bags of rubbish on top of

> bins the night before the binmen come and by the

> morning (7.45 ish) the foxes have ripped them open

> and the contents are everywhere. This is the only

> problem I have seen around Crystal palace/

> Goodrich roads except for the crisp packets

> discarded by children around there.

Fair point - but this wasn't the case in my situation. Everything was in the bins with the lids closed! Plus when I left for work (before the bin men had been round) the garden was fine.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

I did write a complaint about rubbish from businesses not being cleared every night as it was attracting lots of foxes around my road and I also said from Friday to Sunday with the market and weekend visitors there is lots of litter/food just thrown on the pavements ( I am off north cross road ) plus broken glass from wine/beer bottles. It's bad enough with the poos never mind the extra rubbish over the weekend .

[UncleBen]

Chocoholic Wrote:

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

> I live opposite Peckham Rye Park Colyton Road. The

> road is a mess full of mud from the football

> players after they have played their matches. They

> wipe their football boots all over the kerbs and

> even on mine and neighbours walls to get the mud

> off their boots. Can they put something inside the

> park gates where they can scrape the mud off

> before getting into their cars. OR change their

> boots and take them home with them. The road looks

> an absolute mess after they have left.Ihave

> complained to the Council several times - but

> nothing seems to be done. I appreciate that this

> is not litter but it isa cleaning issue.

Its mud! Not litter,but mud! Am glad the council has not turned out to sweep up mud, they may be some time on the Rye!

Amazed the libdems have so much time to create litter with letters about litter when we have no hospital or police stn.

[civilservant]

Wind activity

That bitter east wind was busy re-distributing litter all over streets, pavements and front gardens these last couple of weeks

I gave up tidying outside the front of my house until the wind died down, or I'd have been out there litter-picking all day everyday

[Sue]

The wind may have been re-distributing litter, civilservant, but there is still noticeably more of the litter after the bins/recycling have been collected, wind or no wind. In my road, anyway!

As far as litter after the North Cross Road market is concerned, I know there are already a few litter bins in that road but I think there should be more. I don't know how often they are emptied, but sometimes I have seen them overflowing.

Of course people shouldn't just drop litter, but I guess for some the temptation is just too great if there's nowhere immediately obvious to put it.

[CllrBarrieHargrove]

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment on this thread so far. As Southwark's cabinet member with responsibility for the environment, it's really useful for me to have this feedback. I'm pleased to see that many of you haven't noticed a reduction in cleanliness as a result in the changes to the service. I should point out that this wasn't a change we made lightly, but something that financially we had little choice over following unprecented cuts to our budgets by government. However, the changes have been a bit exaggerated by some, and actually the council is still litter picking every other day in addition to the monthly sweeping.

We know how important tidy streets are to our residents and we regularly ask for feedback. Our latest survey shows that 93% of residents are satisfied with street cleaning in the borough (compared to the London average of 78%). Clearly we would like to get to 100% and so all your comments are really helpful. I'll speak to our contractor Veolia about the issue with the binmen and will ask our environment team to look at the other issues you've raised. You may also be pleased to hear that we're planning a series of 'dog poo' blitzes this summer to try to tackle this tricky and troubling problem. While I can't promise miracles, we will be out on the streets and in the parks trying to get all dog owners to take responsibility for their mess.

You can report any street cleaning issues on our website at any time - www.southwark.gov.uk or call 020 7525 2000. If anyone wants to raise any issues with me personally, please email me at [email protected]

[grumpyoldman]

Thanks councillor,

Can you advise which streets were canvassed in the survey as this could make a big difference? If they were back streets away from main thorough fares with no shops and building works the litter would be less.

[James Barber]

Hi Barrie,

That's a bit disengeuous.

All administrations have choices of where to spend the money they have available.

You chose cuts on street cleaning, dog poo clearing and other services. But you've chosen to spend it on brand new projects and programmes.

And yes technically the streets are litter picked every other day but East dulwich residents have produced photographic evidence where their streets havent been litter picked for weeks on end. So the services is now much more hit or miss. I suspect the round the litter pickers have are just too long to complete every other day.

As an East dulwich councillor we get lots of direct feedback and through mechanisms such as this. I don't recognise 93% of residents being happy with street cleaning. I think many would like a detailed explanation of how this figure is calculated.

[UncleBen]

Dear Cllr Hargraves. Hardly notice any difference to the streets at all. Keep up the good work.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

I am not happy with the street cleaning as my street does have an issue with broken glass, litter and poo .

I have had to email to ask for broken glass to be cleaned up after it was left there for three weeks at the end of my road ( I would have swept it myself if I could !)

Glad to hear about the blitz on dog poo as there is currently 4 lots of dog poo on my pavement alone.

[SCSB79]

Perhaps bitching between Councillors should be kept to PM.

[Rianoo]

I have noticed that the litter isn't bin waste/domestic/dropped litter as I have had to pick up quite a lot of building waste, generally plastic wrap or parts of paper sacks, cardboard packaging etc. I would advocate that all skips should be covered when not in use. I would hazard a guess at about 100 skips within the ED area with all the loft conversions/renovations going on.

[DuncanW]

I also live on Ulverscroft and totally agree with the OP

As far as I can tell, the bin men are very careless and drop litter everywhere when they empty the bins on this road. I don't know how it compares elsewhere.

So the answer is most likely not a policy issue but an issue of effective administration and control of the council's subcontractors.

The dog poo thing is an increasing issue - it seems to have got really out of hand over the last six/twelve months. What can be done about this?

- Sue, I haven't responded to the leaflet yet, but I will do when I get a spare moment

[civilservant]

We can't blame the evil wind anymore. I agree that there's a lot more dogshit on the pavement these days - a rather disgusting obstacle course down Crystal Palace Road of a morning, especially the bit near Gumboots - and there also seems to be quite a bit of broken glass.