Summary of the Municipal Waste Management Strategy

The Council has published its waste management strategy. We have done this to let residents and businesses in the borough know that we want to improve our waste services and make them the best in London.

  • this means that when we collect your rubbish we will do it as reliably, tidily and quietly as possible
  • it means that we are trying hard to reduce the amount of waste we have to send to be buried in the ground by recycling much more of it
  • and it means that we want to make the borough's streets cleaner and less cluttered

The full strategy has the facts and figures on these objectives, and it also says how we are going to achieve them.

Some of the main initiatives include:

  • a major publicity campaign with the message 'Love the streets you live in'. This will tackle the 'black bag problem' by making it very clear to residents and businesses when they can put their rubbish on the streets for collection. It will also encourage them to recycle more, and remind the lazy few who drop litter that this is not acceptable.
  • a number of schemes to make orange recycling sacks more widely available, from more Council buildings and, if possible, from shops too
  • tailor-made 'front door' recycling schemes for residents of mansion blocks
  • new paper-only mini recycling bins on the streets
  • promotion of the Mail Preference Service, which allows householders to opt out of receiving unwanted junk mail
  • a new waste contract that will require the Council's contractor to provide trained and motivated staff, and to meet very exacting performance standards
  • exercising more control over our commercial waste collections, so that commercial waste is not left on shopping streets for so long, and more commercial waste is recycled
  • additional street sweepers and street washing staff to make our streets 30 per cent cleaner in the north of the borough and 20 per cent cleaner in the rest of the borough
  • improving our Too Big for the Bin service
  • taking a firm line with businesses who stain the pavements with their waste
  • removing abandoned and untaxed vehicles within three days

Over the next few months, as these initiatives take place, residents, businesses and visitors should all begin to notice our efforts. Download and read read the full strategy  Municipal Waste Management Strategy and Action Plan 2004 - 2009 [PDF] (file size 671Kb)