City imposes waste restrictions ahead of Olympics

The City of London Corporation is set to introduce a time banding system from April 2012 for both residential and commercial bagged waste collections in a bid to clear the Citys streets of obstructions and improve hygiene as more tourists visit London.

This means that all businesses and residents will be restricted from putting out waste and recycling bags on the public highway and footpaths during certain hours, seven days a week. At present, waste can be put out at any time of day.

The initiative is intended to significantly improve the quality of the street-scene and environment of the City of London for businesses, visitors and residents as well as reduce the number of obstructions on the Citys heavily used footpaths.

The changes only affect those residents and business that put out bagged and loose waste on the public highway for collection and do not affect those who use wheeled bins or internal compactors to store and dispose of their waste.

John Tomlinson, chairman of the City of London Corporations port health and environmental services committee, said: This scheme will undoubtedly improve the aesthetics and hygiene of the Citys streets. Removing bagged waste during the bandings will reduce the opportunity for loose litter to be added to bags left out and less waste on streets means less vermin and pests and a reduction in the associated health hazards.

The City of London Corporation said that it had consulted widely on the scheme. The objective of the consultation was to try to get an indication from both residents and businesses on how the introduction of a time banding scheme would be received, and how easily residents and businesses would be able to comply.

As part of the consultation 13,500 residents and businesses were sent a letter during October & December 2011, asking them about their view before considering implementation of scheme.