Look out for your letter outlining improvements this week
Letters setting out wide-ranging improvements to refuse and recycling services from 19 November will start to drop through 95,000 residents’ doors this week.
The Council is writing to all homes eligible for household (green box) recycling services by 1 November to inform them about a £3.8 million revamp of services this Autumn.
Improvements to be rolled out across the borough from 19 November include single day collections for all refuse and recycling and same day pick-up for missed refuse collections reported to the Council by 5pm.
All roads will be cleaned by the end of the next working day following refuse and recycling collections.
Free Council wheelie bins will be delivered to more than 15,000 homes in the Southall area from early November. The wheelie bin area was decided following views expressed in last year’s ‘How to bin it’ consultation.
In addition an appointment based special bulky waste collection service (to take away up to eight bulky items for £20) will be introduced that promises to be twice as fast as the current service.
From 19 November local people will be able to recycle plastic through the weekly household collection services. And, with 87% of residents asking for plastic recycling to be introduced in the consultation the Council is hoping that this will prove to be a popular service. Although all plastic (with the exception of garden furniture and toys) will be collected by Council contractor ECT, residents are being asked to keep plastic separate from all other recycling as it will be picked up by a different vehicle. Plastics will then be sorted so that as many items as possible are recycled with non-recyclable products taken out for disposal.
A new weekly garden waste collection service will also begin on 19 November. Collections will be on the same day as refuse and recycling collections, replacing the current fortnightly service. Re-usable garden sacks will replace disposable pink sacks which will be phased out by Spring 2008. Three new re-usable sacks will be delivered to homes eligible for household recycling from 19 November to early in the New Year.
The council says more than 1,000 homes (flats and red routes) will be offered a mixed recycling service. And more large blocks of flats will be provided with communal bins to boost recycling.
In a bid to cut down on rubbish left out too early, special signs will be put up in residential roads, setting out each road’s collection day and times from March 2008. In addition, communal bins will be placed a various locations close to flats above shops to help these residents dispose of rubbish responsibly.
Council Leader Jason Stacey said: “All of these changes being introduced on 19 November are designed to improve our waste collection services. We know from the huge response to last year’s consultation that refuse and recycling services are very important to residents.
“For most residents the new single collection day will be their existing refuse collection day.
“I am particularly pleased that plastic recycling will be introduced as I know many people have wanted this service for a long time. We hope that it will make an important contribution to further improve the borough’s recycling rate.
“And in Southall, wheelie bins will be introduced to those roads where there was majority support for them and it was practical operationally. We believe that by taking rubbish off the streets these bins will really help to tackle the problem of rats in the area, especially around the town centre.”
October 16, 2007
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