Forum Topic

Rubbish collection

Has anyone received the new Bank holiday timetable for collections ? It's not on the LBH website.  Will the collections be just one day late this week ?

Pat Kingham ● 5870d27 Comments

More information would also hopefully help to make people more responsible. I find it disappointing that there isn't more information readily available on what to do with 'bulky waste' and I find the LBH website sadly negative on this subject.  I'd feel so depressed at the lack of service after the first paragraph that I probably wouldn't keep on reading to find the useful stuff right at the bottom! Did you read the Harrow resume?  How different is that!!It is important to move fly tips fast to stop them growing larger BUT it is also important to find out what is being fly-tipped, by whom and why. I also like the way that in LBE they put stickers on them advertising the fact that it was illegal to fly-tip and the Council had been advised and may investigate. If no comment is made I think these people feel that no-one has noticed or cares and they can just carry on with their anti-social behaviour.Would those who fly-tip ever be bothered enough to pick up the phone? 

Philippa Bond ● 5866d

Whilst I don't disagree with your sentiments - but where do you think the fly tips end up? The fact is more moderate charges would hopefully help make people more responsible. I would like to know the cost of providing a service with a moderate charge as against clearing up fly tips annually.

Vanessa Smith ● 5866d

I see that this was in Hounslow Matters:http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/hm_news_apr09.pdfbut something simple can so easily go up on the website early for those who will be travelling and/or may have the time to plan!If there were to be major changes to the system then you would expect more attention to the subject.

Philippa Bond ● 5866d

The increase to £30 would have been included in the Budget that was agreed at the Council meeting last month.  Note that one free collection per year (of up to 5 items) is available to people receiving council tax benefit, housing benefit, pension credit, income support, disability living allowance or attendance allowance.

Richard Jennings ● 5866d

Don't you think that the cost of landfill (which is set to go up every year)is likely to have something to do with this?  We need to take more responsibility for our own waste and sllow the Councils more time and money to deal with other things!  All the councils offer differing charges and have different systems.  They all seem to have some concessions.  Hounslow's charges aren't particularly high - quite a few seem to have a £50 fee.Take a look at this one:http://www.harrow.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=729&pageNumber=3

Philippa Bond ● 5866d

VanessaI know they were in Coalition but i didn't realise the Charge was set by them, i thought it was the Individual Department that's what i was stating.It was a shock to Read that the £30 charge was made by the Tories supported by the ICG and i do not agree on it and i feel the ICG was wrong to do this.Does this clear up where i stand on this!

Simon Anderson ● 5867d

Simon, I may be missing something but the ICG have been voting with the Tories and in effect propping them up for the last four years, so they have been party to imposing these charges, they therefore must bear some of the responsibility. If one party gets an overall majority in May I think that your friends may be surplus to requirements................

Vanessa Smith ● 5867d

Well, it just gets better doesn't it, they kept that quiet.

Vanessa Smith ● 5867d

Thats even worse Come on ICG Sort this out!!

Simon Anderson ● 5868d

"One thing. It's not £25. It's £30 now."Well I guess thats inflation for you. No doubt also influenced by the salaries that have to be paid these days. "Suresh Kamath Director of Street Management took home £128,871"

Steve Taylor ● 5868d

One thing. It's not £25. It's £30 now.

Matt Harmer ● 5868d

Adam i totally agree with you and did not realise the £25 charge was because off the ICG/Tory Coalition that is VERY naughty and I DONT agree on that and i feel the ICG has made a Huge Mistake on this one and I hope after May they will go back and look at this and Get it Lowered and i agree with your Prices for Items too.

Simon Anderson ● 5868d

The other side of getting rid of unwanted/knackered appliances is that you may not necessarily replace the old one immediately so that the offer of taking it away is no good. Where does that leave you? With the best will in the world the majority of people will probably not have access to a vehicle suitable for moving large items or the muscle required to shift it. Adam is right, charges really need to be reasonable as they once were, you may find the man with a van option as they roam the streets, but many of them will not dispose of stuff they can't make a few bob on responsibly, and may well fly tip themselves, would you think to ask if they had a licence? The real heart of the matter is how much it cost to provide an affordable service compared to shifting the fly tips annually? The other consideration is surely in this day and age of environmental awareness we don't want our streets turned into rubbish tips. I think people who dump stuff are ignorant and moronic but things are not helped by a council that can't or won't see the bigger picture, and who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

Vanessa Smith ● 5870d

Dixons/DSG - I intend to take it up with them but suspect they will say that the appliance to take away should have been moved to the front door ready for collection rather than left in the kitchen.Actually, to be fair to them, and just thinking about it, my landlord placed the order online, and whilst their website says they will deliver for free and take away the existing appliance, perhaps my landlord didn't mention the existing appliance to them, so the deliver people wouldn't have looked, particularly as I refused to pay the extra for installation given how it isn't exactly rocket science !.

Adam Beamish ● 5870d

Adam - I agree 100% with everything you say in your posting.Its not ideal and I would also suggest that the supplier of your new machine has let you down very badly if they had clear instructions to collect and recycle your old machine. I would take it up with them in the strongest terms and ask them to come back and fetch it. Who was the supplier?

Steve Taylor ● 5870d

But, to add to my final paragraph about 0% Council Tax, that's why it's absolute nonsense for any Council administration to suggest that if Council Tax remains the same services can still improve.

Adam Beamish ● 5870d

It's not ideal though is it Steve ?.  I had a new washing machine delivered today and the lazy delivery people just dropped it inside my door (I was at work and had left keys with someone to let them in) but didn't bother to see if there was an existing appliance to take away (which there was and which in accordance with their instructions I'd disconnected from mains, unplumbed and left in accessible place in kitchen).I can't take the machine to the dump myself - it wouldn't fit in my car.  So even if I wanted to flytip I couldn't.  So my choice is either to :(1) Leave the old machine in the corner of the living room where it is now.(2) Advertise it on a free site incase someone wants it for spares/repair.(3) Pay £25 for the Council to come and take it away.£25 is a hefty sum.  I can understand why there has to be a minimum fee for a single item, but I think it's completely unreasonable that I have to pay £25 for one item, whereas for the same price someone else could have five items taken away.  It should be £10 for a single item, £15 for up to three, and £25 for up to five.  The current system is nothing more than a rip-off, because most people are only going to have one item they want taking away at any one time, so it's clearly designed to exploit that.But, as I always say, things like this are the price we pay for a 0% Council Tax increase.

Adam Beamish ● 5870d

"because the Tories and ICG are penny pinchers. They charge £25 to collect a large item of rubbish. In a recession, this is too much, and some of those who cannot afford it just dump their rubbish instead of forking out the cash."So the Tories and ICG have turned these poor people into criminals against their will?

Steve Taylor ● 5870d

Simon,I saw the Chronicle article too. Seems to me all this dumping is going on because the Tories and ICG are penny pinchers. They charge £25 to collect a large item of rubbish. In a recession, this is too much, and some of those who cannot afford it just dump their rubbish instead of forking out the cash.

Sharon Smith ● 5870d

I like the article today i read in the Chronicle with Vanessa in the photo regarding Fly tipping.We have been getting it in our Car Pk we have had Car wheels, Fridges, Beds, Bags of Earth and Grass dumped by our Metal bins and 3wks ago 1 off our Large Metal bins were stolen.Now the owners of the flats have to pay around £300 for a replacement.

Simon Anderson ● 5870d

Spoke to a councillor friend this p.m. was told they had run out of the planners so not sure if more will be printed! Par for the course with this lot.

Vanessa Smith ● 5870d

I received a new card a few weeks ago. not sure if it came in the post or through the letterbox when the bin was collected.

Tim Henderson ● 5870d

Thanks.  We certainly haven't had anything delivered and the LBH website said it hadn't got the schedule on there yet.

Pat Kingham ● 5870d

Well, these planners certainly haven't appeared around here yet.

Vanessa Smith ● 5870d

http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/index/environment_and_planning/recycling/collection_days.htmappears to have April to September planners for each of the collection zones and a postcode tool to identify which zone you are in.

Tim Henderson ● 5870d

I received the new timetable (effective from 1 April)  in the post about 2 weeks ago. My collection day has been postponed 1 day this week and 1 day next week and then its nack to normal

Steve Taylor ● 5870d

We assume so, there was nothing in the local papers either, God forbid that the council should provide residents with information. Easter is a difficult Bank Holiday as there are two instead of the usual one. So collections could be 2 days later? A published yearly timetable would be so useful, and just might stop people putting rubbish out too early so that it lands up strewn everywhere.

Vanessa Smith ● 5870d