Seasonal Recycling: what to do with Christmas trees & extra waste

We produce around 30% more waste over the festive period.

A great deal of this is food, along with an estimated 83 km2 of wrapping paper, 13000 tonnes of glass and 250 tonnes of Christmas trees.

However, this can be reduced, reused and recycled to help you save money. Here are a few handy tips:

• Wrapping paper is great to use for streak-free window cleaning, origami, or shredded up as protective packaging.
• Cards can be reused as gift tags, tree decorations or craft projects.
• Christmas tree needles can be used as pot pourri, to stuff pin cushions - or can even be used in cooking

Changes to collections over the Christmas and New Year period

There will be changes to the collection days over the Christmas and New Year period. Collections of household waste, recycling, food and garden waste will be affected.

Normal collection day	Revised collection day
Monday, 24 December	No change
Tueday, 25 December	Thursday, 27 December
Wednesday, 26 December	Friday, 28 December
Thursday, 27 December	Saturday, 29 December
Friday, 28 December	Sunday, 30 December
Monday, 31 December	No change
Tuesday, 1 January	Wednesday, 2 January
Wednesday, 2 January	Thursday, 3 January
Thursday, 3 Jnauary	Friday, 4 January
Friday 4 January	Saturday, 5 January

Collections return to normal during the week commencing 7 January 2013.

The Council also offer FREE ChristmasTree Collections from 7 January up until 25 January for trees to start a new life as compost.

Recycling reduces landfill disposal costs

Taxpayers in Tower Hamlets pay over £1,000,000 per year landfilling waste that could have been recycled.

Two examples of what NOT to include in the pink bags/purple bins

Aluminium foil

• Foil such as pie cases, milk bottle tops or kitchen foil is a lower quality to aluminium cans
• it reduces the quality of recycled aluminium if it is processed with the cans 

Polystyrene

• Polystyrene is a very low quality type of plastic. 
• This makes it difficult to recycle and there are very few recycling plants that can accept it for recycling.

All of the following materials can be recycled in the pink sacks and purple recycling bins:

• Glass bottles and jars (all colours)
• Food and drink cans
• Plastic tubs, pots and bottles (e.g. drink bottles, shampoo bottles, yoghurt pots and fruit punnets)
• Cardboard (e.g. brown boxes, greeting cards and cereal boxes)
• Paper (e.g. newspapers and magazines, printer paper, envelopes, and telephone directories)
• Cartons (e.g. fruit juice, dairy and soup cartons)
• Empty aerosol canisters

Please rinse out containers

MERA visited the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Southwark last week. It was an eye opener!  A number of sophisticated machines sort materials into paper, plastic, juice cartons, cans, glass etc.

But the amount of contamination was shocking!

So please follow the simple guidelines above as to what can go into the pink sacks and purple bins - and spare a thought for the people who are manually sorting through all our stuff!

Link to short films of the sorting process.

Any doubts or questions please get in touch.

• Our e-mailing address is: info@mile-end-residents.co.uk
• Txt or leave a message: 07932 626340

You can also find links to information about Tower Hamlets Waste Management and Recycling in the side column

WASTE MANAGEMENT AND STREET CARE

• LBTH: Street Care and Cleaning
• LBTH: Recycling and Waste FAQs
• LBTH: Flytipping - enforcement
• LBTH: Report graffiti
• LBTH: Find it Fix It (tackle eyesores)
• LBTH: Dead Animal Removal (from streets)
• Direct Gov - Report flytipping
• Direct Gov - Report a missed bin collection

MERARECOMMENDS: FixMyStreet - Report refuse problems

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New waste collection service failing to deliver

Last Monday morning all the big waste collection bins on Mile End Road were removed by Veolia (the Council's refuse collection contractors)

This was the start of the new waste collection service which aims to collect bagged rubbish in three half an hour time slots EACH DAY.

This Monday this is what it looks like on Mile End Road - some improvement (NOT)!

Bagged Rubbish outside 642 Mile End Road
- two missed collections and still on the street waiting for collection after 12 hours

Time slots for collection

The DAILY time slots for waste collection vary slightly at weekends but basically rubbish should now be collected and removed by Veolia between:

• 7.00 - and 7.30 (general waste and recycling) - when the shopkeepers are not around to put out trade refuse
• 13.00 and 13.30 (general waste only) - which means that the shops which can now put out their waste are totally unable to put out waste for recycling - despite the fact that a large part of their waste is cardboard.
• 23.00 and 23.30  (general waste and recycling) - when the shopkeepers are not around to put out trade refuse.  This effectively means that SHOPKEEPERS ARE UNABLE TO PUT OUT ANY WASTE FOR RECYCLING - which is a complete joke as they are some of the biggest producers of waste for recycling.

The first week is a farce

The thing is the rubbish is NOT being collected at these times.

This makes the notion of enforcement - involving fines for putting rubbish out at the wrong time - a complete farce.  

What is even more puzzling is that when the truck turns up to collect the rubbish, all the rubbish - both black and pink sacks and cardboard - all go in the same truck.  

Questions which need to be answered

• Why is there no time slot for the collection of waste for recycling from the shops?
• Is any recycling collection actually taking place?
• What exactly is the purpose of differentiating what can be put out at different times if it all goes in the same truck?
• How does the Council now collect income from trade refuse left for collection by shopkeepers?

One big mess

This Monday morning the picture at the top of this post is what it now looks like.  Bags of rubbish lying on the pavement for over 12 hours.  The late night collection failed to remove it as did the early morning collection.  Obviously neither collection took place - and this has been reported via the missed collection service

[Update:  The waste collection due between 13.00 and 13.30 also did not happen.  That is now THREE CONSECUTIVE MISSED COLLECTIONS. The waste is now obstructing the BT engineer who is trying to work on the exchange box on the corner of Brokesley Street and Mile End Road.]

We don't think this is a great impression to give visitors to the borough!  Waste left on the street like this also encourages rats - and should not happen.  It needs to stop.

Clearly Tower Hamlets Council and its waste collection service need to sit down with Veolia and sort out what's going wrong.

In principle, the new arrangements are a good idea however they need to be refined and improved.

The Council and Veolia need to recognise that they need to have collection slots which accommodate:

• people who rise and go to bed early (ie people who have to leave for work very early and who are not around for the early morning, midday or late night slots.  Not everybody does a 9-5 job!)
• recycling by shops ie the midday slot need to include recycling - unless of course there is no recycling!
• separation of general and recycling waste if the Council is going to keep payments it has to make for general waste disposal to a minimum
• stop talking about enforcement fines until they've got basic collection practices sorted and reliable!

In the meantime - can somebody get this waste collected please - ASAP!

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Look at the mess AFTER the rubbish collection!

The Ennerdale Rubbish Saga continues.

BELOW This was the situation on Sunday 9th January 2010.

Sunday 9th January - overflowing waste bins and large items left out for collection

BELOW This was the situation on this morning AFTER the rubbish had been collected.

Not enough bins means overflowing bins and an unsightly mess - which is made even worse by Veolia!

This is what was left after Veolia had emptied the bins.
Not nice and a very long way from an acceptable standard of service delivery!

Residents and visitors walk right past here on entering and leaving Ennerdale House.  This standard of service delivery is hugely disrespectful of the people who live in the building.

We're also very unclear as how this complies with the Tidy Street standards required for rubbish collection by Veolia?

After all the reason why there is a lot of mess is on the floor is because an inadequate number of bins have been provided and/or the the collection is not frequent enough for the bins provided.

So why don't Veolia just start collecting every day until they work out how often the collection needs to be for the bins provided?

We're currently wondering whether EastendHomes or Telford Homes have worked out how many extra paladins are going to be required when residents have to stop using the chute because the Veolia truck cannot access the skip at the rear.

If this is the sort of mess which is going to be created then we're now thinking that  a temporary structure is required to keep all of the bins completely out of sight during the construction period.

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Ennerdale House Rubbish problem continues

The skip situation at Ennerdale House Thursday 9th December 2010

OPEN LETTER TO: Tower Hamlets Council, EastendHomes and Telford Homes plc

The problem with waste collection from Ennerdale House is still a very long way from being resolved.

The MERA Chair started reporting this problem with waste at Ennerdale House to FixMyStreet at the end of October and subsequently to the Mile End Estate Management Board.

We started reporting the problem to you on this blog (which we know you all read) on 13th November and via contact with the council and councillors.  A month later, if anything the situation is getting worse.

• Putting rubbish in the chute is NOT a long term solution!  
• When are you going to get to grips with the fact that the skip will be totally out of commission as soon as Telford start building at the base of Ennerdale House?  
• Where exactly do you propose to collect the non-recycling waste which is currently going down the chute?
• Why have you as yet not provided a place for people to put their large bags of non-recycling waste from normal large kitchen bins - as seen in every kitchen supplies shop in the country and an awful lot of kitchens in Ennerdale House?  This is the rubbish which will not go down the chute.

It's been suggested that maybe residents should start dumping their rubbish outside the offices of EastendHomes and/or Tower Hamlets Council.  After all this couldn't possibly be an offence as obviously both EastendHomes and Tower Hamlets Council are perfectly content for rubbish to be left for days and days outside the front door of Ennerdale House!

I wonder if the solution might be delivered a bit sooner if we did start doing that?

In the meantime we'll be pursuing the progress of our complaint about this current state of affairs.  Ombudsman here we come!

Regards

Mile End Residents Association

PS  We've had a very nice letter from the Considerate Contractor Scheme and hope to meet with them shortly about the conduct of and project management by Telford Homes.  We'll be sending them links to all the evidence of the extremely poor management of services such as waste management during this regeneration project

More reports to those that should be sorting this out 

MERA will be reporting the current state of affairs to:

• local ward Councillor Rachael Saunders and Councillor Motin Uz-Zaman - who are also Board Members of EastendHomes
• Tower Hamlets Council's Waste Management Officers
• Tower Hamlets Council's Planning Officers
• Tower Hamlets Environmental Health Officers
• the Considerate Contractor Scheme - with a recommendation that the label be taken away from Telford Homes
• the Health and Safety Executive for London (Construction Sites) 

We will of course continue to monitor and photograph the situation and report all problems to FixMyStreet - for all to see.  Photographs are now being taken on a daily basis.

Links to all previous posts about the problems with rubbish collection at Ennerdale House:

• Ennerdale Rufuse Mess due to Telford Homes & EastendHomes
• Ennerdale House: refuse collection update
• Tower Hamlets Council: 20 days to clear waste managment problems

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Veolia needs to clean up its act in Mile End

Mile End Residents Association is making a point of reporting all uncollected rubbish which is on the street and visible AND all bulk containers which are overflowing with rubbish.

We report all uncollected rubbish and overflowing contaoners to FixMyStreet because:

• it creates a public record for all to see and
• enables people to pinpoint the location on a map and attach a photo of the rubbish (or other problem in the street)
• enables us to monitor just how long it takes to get a problem fixed
• enables us to monitor whether the overall level of service is improving or declining

The situation on waste collection is not improving and recent events would suggest the quality of service delivered is actually declining.
 

Veolia in Mile End

Veolia Environmental Services has the contract to collect domestic rubbish, trade rubbish, recycling rubbish and to clean the streets in Tower Hamlets

The target for refuse collection is 88 per 100,000. It should be noted that 80% of the properties in Tower Hamlets are high-rise and serviced by bulk containers. Each bulk container if missed is counted as five missed collections in our calculations agreed with the Council.

Veolia

Performance in collecting bulk containers reported on the Veolia website relates to 2007!!!

Tower Hamlets Council Waste Management Service has the responsibility for monitoring Veolia's performance and exercising quality controls over the way in which the Veolia contract is executed.

Thus when as local residents we find rubbish is not being collected, this is a joint responsibility of both Veolia and Tower Hamlets Council's Waste Management service.

This is the current map of recent incidents reported to FixMyStreet.

Places where MERA and local residents have reported rubbish problems

This is just the rubbish problems!  As you can see quite a few have still not been reported as being fixed.

• Ongoing Ennerdale Hse refuse neglect
• Overfull recycling bins
• Overloaded and contaminated recycle bin - end of Treby St.
• Green Sofa dumped by household
• Incompetent site management by Eastendhomes contractors resulting in H&S issues
• Access to recycle bins and general waste bins denied by developers
• Recycle bin - overflowing 36-66 Eric Street (fixed)
• Overflowing bin on Wager Street E3
• E3 Mile End - yet more overflowing bins
• Derwent House - overflowing recycle bin
• Recycle bins overflowing & fly tipping
• Over flowing recycle bin (fixed)
• Al fresco bedroom - take 2 (fixed)
• More over flowing recycle bins (fixed)
• More over flowing recycle bins (fixed)
• Yet more fly tipping on Treby Street E3 (fixed)
• Fly tipping on Treby Street E3 (fixed)
• Overflowing bins (repeat offender) (fixed)
• Overflowing recycle bins (fixed)
• Recycle bin overflowing and fly tipping (fixed)
• Overflowing bins and fly tipping (fixed)
• Advance warning - another recycle bin problem (fixed)
• Yet another overflowing recycle bin on Eric Estate E3 (fixed)
• Another recycling bin in Eric Street (fixed)
• Overflowing recycle bins (fixed)
• Door left on street (fixed)

Feedback to Veolia

You can tell Veolia what you think of their service

We welcome your feedback on the services we offer. Please contact us on the number below for assistance. Call: 020 7812 5000

Veolia

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Ennerdale Rufuse Mess due to Telford Homes & EastendHomes

Yet another Telford Homes /EastendHomes cock-up!
 Toilet paper in the trees on Hamlets Way and contamination of the recycling bins

12th November 2010

We regret we have to present yet another Telford Homes and EastendHomes combined cock-up during the course of the regeneration project!

This time it relates to the collection of the rubbish from the flats at Ennerdale House

1. When responding to the consultation on the development, MERA kept highlighting the fact that arrangements for revised rubbish arrangements at Ennerdale House during the course of the build had not been identified.  We knew it would be a problem - and so it is proving to be!
2. Yet again Telford Homes behaves as if nobody was actually living on this development site!
3. At no point have the residents of Ennerdale or MERA been advised as to how ALL forms of rubbish will be collected as access to the original rubbish collection arrangements is prevented due to the building works
4. Recently the access to the large rubbish container at the rear was cut off - without any prior notice or consultation (see "Bob The Considerate Constructor")
5. This week the three purple recycling bins have been moved around to the front of the building.
6. Given people are no longer able to access the bin at the rear, the recycling bins are now permanently "contaminated" with ordinary rubbish and overflowing - as one might well expect given the number of people in the building who now have no access to the skip at the rear.
7. Veolia have not collected rubbish which is overflowing from the bins prior to a weekend.  But then has anybody told them what is going on?  Or have they been ignored too?

When exactly are the project managers running this development actually going to start THINKING about the implications of what they are doing?

6th November 2010:  Tower Hamlets Recycling bins overflowing with ordinary domestic refuse
This contaminates the bin and elimintes all scope to collect recycling waste
This is what Ennerdale residents now have to look at as they leave the building

Major impact on quality of life and quality of environment

The lack of thought by the Project Managers for Telford Homes and EastendHomes mean that residents now have:

• rubbish in the trees along Hamlets Way
• rubbish overflowing from the recycling bins (which are NOT intended for anything other than recycling waste)
• contaminated recycling bins which eliminates ALL recycling waste left in bin
• no access to ordinary domestic non-recycled waste bins which can cope with the amount generated by residents
• no designated space for any large items which need to be left for collection 

It's worth noting that, in its response to the consultation on the proposed new waste arrangements for after the new buildings are in place, MERA has identified that these will breach existing EU and UK health and safety legislation relating to the collection of rubbish - but we're being ignored on that as well!

Friday 12th November 2010 (am): Overfull and contaminated recycling bins
full of large waste sacks plus packing cases which don't go down rubbish chutes!

Mile End Estate Management Board doesn't get it - yet again!

The EastEndHomes Mile End Estate Management Board (which is widely considered by residents to be a complete waste of space at the best of times) provided no reassurance at all at the Board Meeting on Thursday night that the problem was either (1) recognised or (2) that it would be addressed.

On the contrary their advice was that:

• no access will be provided to a waste collection facility for general waste.  The removal of access to the skip is permanent
• there are no plans for collection facilities for bulk rubbish
• there are no plans for collection facilities for any rubbish which won't fit in the chute
• residents should make put rubbish in smaller bags and put it down the chute (which of course doesn't work when it's a fridge or a sofa or large packing cases!) 

Board members appear to be completely unaware that most kitchen rubbish bins are far bigger than the size of a bag which will go down a chute - and that people have been taking their rubbish bags round to the skip for years and years!  Nor do people sort out kitchen waste from large bags into smaller bags.

Yet another demonstration - if any were needed - of the way in which EastendHomes - and the Mile End Estate Management Board in particular:

• neither understands the way life is lived on the Estate (ie people have been taking their rubbish round to the skip for years given the small size of the chute)
• nor appreciates how their incompetence of their actions impacts on the quality of life for residents and the quality of the environment. 

What's the solution?

The solution is quite straight forward.

• The normal rubbish bins at the end of Derwent House could be used on a temporary basis by residents from Ennerdale House.  
• The rate of collections by Veolia will need to be stepped up to cope with the huge amount of waste which won't go down the chute at Ennerdale House.  
• EastendHomes will need to negotiate with Tower Hamlets for extra collections by Veolia.

Extra collections will need to be organised anyway - to avoid contamination of recycling rubbish and because MERA will be reporting to FixMyStreet every time we see any rubbish not in a bin outside Ennerdale House or an overflowing rubbish bin in public view.  The only issue is whether they are organised or in response to a call out to fix a problem.

We will be doing a post on this blog next week on how to report uncollected rubbish and overflowing litter bins to FixMyStreet.

What happens next?

MERA will be reporting the current state of affairs to:

• local ward Councillor Rachael Saunders and Councillor Motin Uz-Zaman - who are also Board Members of EastendHomes
• Tower Hamlets Council's Waste Management Officers
• Tower Hamlets Council's Planning Officers
• Tower Hamlets Environmental Health Officers
• the Considerate Contractor Scheme run by Tower Hamlets Council - with a recommendation that the label be taken away from Telford Homes
• the Health and Safety Executive for London (Construction Sites) 

We will of course continue to monitor and photograph the situation and report all problems to FixMyStreet - for all to see.

Friday 12th November 2010 (pm): Totally contaminated and overflowing recycling bins 
- still uncollected by Veolia prior to weekend

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