There’s a lot of griping about the council’s move to fortnightly collections. Some people just don’t like change, and others will do anything for the environment short 
of…well, actually doing something. Local Friends of the Earth groups have issued a statement in support of the move, which says:
“We welcome the Council’s move to introduce fortnightly collections for non-recyclable waste. There is good evidence that a combination of fortnightly general collections with weekly collections of recyclables does help to raise recycling rates. And of course, fewer collections means that collection vehicles have to drive less – and so helps the contractor to cut its CO2 emissions, in line with the Council’s target.
Most councils across the country – of all political hues – Conservative, Lib Dem and Labour – have moved to fortnightly collections to cut costs and increase recycling rates. Very few complaints have been made by residents about these arrangements.
In Haringey the proposals are quite sensible – to roll out fortnightly collections following proper studies and information, on an area by area basis. There are some locations where fortnightly collections might be difficult – for example some flats where storage of waste could be a problem – and we hope that Veolia and the council will ensure these issues are addressed properly. We also hope that residents will be able to have smaller bins for residual waste if in fact they recycle most of their waste.”
MHSG is not far behind. We also support the council’s move. Newly elected MHSG chair Cara Jenkinson said: “Muswell Hill Sustainability Group supports Haringey Council’s move to fortnightly collections of black bin rubbish. Evidence from other parts of the country shows that fortnightly collections increase recycling rates. Haringey currently has one of the lowest recycling rates of all London boroughs, lower than Enfield, Camden and Islington, so any change that will encourage recycling is to be welcomed. We encourage Veolia to work with households in a flexible manner – providing smaller wheelie bins if required (Joyce Rosser, one of our members, has successfully lobbied for this) and not mandating fortnightly collections for flats where waste storage is a problem.”
Hello
I’m afraid that the residents of highgate, where this is currently being rolled out are experiencing significant problems. you point out quite rightly the each bay needs to be assessed for storage etc. Unfortunatly we now have 80 wheelie bins on the pavements of our rather small street. If a conversion house has 3 flats it now has 6 bins, 3 black and 3 green. There is little or no room to store them off the street and now the bins that are there are full or overflowing rubbish with various bags on the ground that foxes have clearly been in. It is an unsightly mess. I agree completely with recycling but in conversion flats this new regime is not working and there have been very many complaints about this from residents