Council expands initiative to get rid of rubbish bags on streets

A council initiative that is cleaning up some of Croydon’s busiest streets – by tackling bags of rubbish left on the pavement – is set to expand into another seven areas.

Time-banded waste collections, for both commercial and residential waste, will go live on Brigstock Road, Church Road, Westow Street and Westow Hill (The Triangle) from 1 May, followed by High Street South Norwood, Selhurst Road and Station Road on 15 May.

First launched on High Street, Thornton Heath last year and later expanded to London Road, the initiative involves restricting the time of day that residents and businesses are allowed to leave their waste out for collectors. Such waste, left on the footway, often attracts fly-tippers and looks untidy. Businesses have been instructed to advise their private waste collectors to collect waste outside the restricted hours.

By October 2016, the new system was a clear success, with council contractors recording 70-tonne reduction in the amount of rubbish dumped outside shops and it was rolled out to Portland Road, South Norwood in December.

As with the other areas, council officers will begin sending leaflets and doing door-to-door visits in advance to both inform residents and businesses and encourage them to get involved. Enforcement is led by council neighbourhood safety officers, who already regularly visit shopkeepers across the borough to check they have a commercial waste licence and are following the new rules.

“Bags of rubbish left on the pavement outside shopfronts looks horrible, whether its commercial waste left there legitimately or illegal flytipping dumped alongside. This scheme has been a huge success in terms of reducing the amount of rubbish sitting on our streets and it’s freed up our contractors to spend more time sweeping and cleaning.

“We’re also getting businesses to be more responsible and help make their streets tidier, which makes a huge difference to everyone in the community. So, I’m delighted that more areas are about to benefit and I look forward to seeing the results.”

Councillor Stuart Collins, deputy leader – Clean Green Croydon

The Don’t Mess With Croydon – Take Pride campaign combines getting local people to become community champions with enforcement against the worst offences.  As well as prosecuting over 140 people in court since launching the initiative in summer 2014, the council has also signed up more than 300 community champions who lead litter picks.

2017-04-21T11:22:48+01:00 April 21st, 2017|Recent news|