Wednesday 26 December 2012

Fly-tipping is hard work compared with ringing for a bulky collection

Barn Hill pond
I took advantage of the 'lighter shade of grey' skies and temporary cessation of rain this morning for a brisk walk around the perimeter of Fryent Country Park.

The park is waterlogged at present with a number of temporary streams and ponds. In contrast with the Spring the ponds are full which bodes well for a better year for amphibians in 2013.

Barn Hill Conservation Group LINK who do so much to conserve and enhance the park have picked up  320 large black bags of litter as well as bigger items since January this year.  It never ceases to amaze me what lengths people go to in order to dump rubbish.

This morning in the field below the pedestrian bridge to Shakespeare Drive a huge suitcase had been dumped into the hedgerow.  This would have required parking a car by Michael Sobell Primary School, trundling the case up the tarmacked  slope to the bridge, down the steep grassy slope on the other side and then bumping it across the meadow. The case had been opened and the contents scattered across the grass. This included dozens of pairs of trainers, a Gok Wan fashion book, a guide to embroidery, an exercise book of poetry  and items of clothing.


The clothing could have been bagged and left out with the recycling, the shoes at one of the street side collection banks (the nearest is on the corner of Valley Drive/Kingsbury Road) and the books donated to a charity shop or one of the community libraries. I took advantage of the sunshine on New Year's Day to clear the dump.

The recent figures on the big rise in private rental accommodation does perhaps point to one of the reasons for the increase in fly-tipping. With tenancies changing frequently new tenants throw out stuff left by the old tenants and these are frequently left in front gardens or by the road side. This accounts for the number of mattresses scattered throughout the borough.

One idea I would like the council to consider is issuing leaflets to Letting Agents to go to  new tenants about the recycling services and particularly bulky collections. It would be helpful if this could be translated into Eastern European languages and any others felt appropriate.

Here is a reminder about what can be picked up through the bulky collection service:

Item Such as  Items must be
Furniture-plastic, wooden or metalBeds, mattresses and bedframes, sofas, tables (larger tables may count as 2 or more items due to their size), wardrobes, armchairs and chairs. Small enough to be carried and loaded on to a vehicle by no more than two workers
FlooringLinoleum and floor tilesBagged or bundled. Wooden flooring or ceramic tiles are not accepted.
MetalMetal filing cabinets less than 40kg and fire guards.
CarpetsManageable by two people, otherwise it must be cut into smaller sections, rolled and tied. Each section counts as a separate item. Underlay is also classed as a separate item.
Large electrical goodsWashing machines, cookers, microwaves, fridges, freezers, dishwashers, dryers and vacuum cleaners.
Small electrical item
TVs, monitors, Hi-Fi systems and radios
Glass or mirrorsGlass top table, mirrored parts of doors or cabinets and fish tanks.Wrapped in a safe and secure manne


1 comment:

Trevor said...

what a joke
so If I so call fly tip It is considered to be a crime but if I am a shop keeper supplying local residents with the means of ruining their health and causing 100,000 people in the UK from smoking not only is that legal but it is one of the means by which the crooks in suits laughingly known as the so called coalition government draw tax revenue each year to the breath taking tune of £12.1 billion every year!!!!!
now don't get me wrong here I'm not in favor of so called fly tippers and I understand the problems they cause, but The fact and reality is they don't cause 100,000 people to die every year from preventable smoking related diseases
neither do they cost the NHS £5 billion each year treating people whose health has been severely damaged from smoking.
and yet the current bunch of crooks in suits are falling over themselves cutting everything in sight because of the budget deficit which currently stands at an estimated £121 billion which works out at around £2 billion having to be borrowed every year by the crooks in suits.
it is therefore understandable why they are making cuts everywhere
but what about the 100,000 people that die from preventable smoking related diseases every year?
how is it the previous labour government introduced a smoking in public places ban rather than a complete ban on smoking altogether?
doesn't that suggest that they are actually exploiting the public for tax revenue purposes and this is why they failed to deal with what is clearly a serious government created problem properly?
yes I think it is safe to say that the tobacco business is the baby of the crooks in suits
they serve the purposes of the crooks in suits.
the crooks in suits give them permission to exploit the public and all the crooks in suits expect in return is £12.1 billion in tax revenue every year.
and then when 100,000 people inevitably start dying every year from smoking related diseases
the crooks in suits focus their attention on fly tippers.
that speaks volumes about what they consider to be serious problems requiring serious action doesn't it!!!
oh yes one more thing
even though we are laughingly meant to be a Christian country
if the crooks in suits get their way it will soon be legal for people of the same sex to get married.
but if you fly tip you are viewed as a criminal
and if you are a shopkeeper supplying the estimated 100,000 people with the means of destroying their health from smoking which also costs the NHS an estimated £5 billion each year treating people with health problems due to smoking that is also OK.
I shake my head in despair.
oh and one more thing it is said that £16.9 billion over the next 25 years Will be spent treating people with diabetes and it is feared that will bankrupt the NHS.
so again if you survive by supplying people with the means of causing 100,000 of them to die each year from preventable diseases it is OK but if you cause the NHS to become bankrupt because you have diabetes the crooks in suits start sweating and fretting.