The London council has written to residents explaining that, from last Wednesday (April 1), it would be removing all the skips for non-recyclable waste at its site at Vale Street in West Norwood in a bid to stop commercial organisations using them illegally and save taxpayers £60,000 a year.
The Vale Street site suffers from widespread illegal use by commercial organisations making it harder for local residents to use
Kevin Crook, waste strategy manager, Lambeth council
The decision represents the latest move by a local authority to tackle trade waste abuse, with many councils introducing permitting schemes or vehicle registration identification to tackle the problem. However, few have taken the step to ban the residual waste element entirely.
Lambeth council explained that some residents were concerned over how they might now dispose of their non-recyclable waste, but said that it had added recycling facilities for mixed wood, rigid plastics and used cooking oil and introduced a “sales area” for reusable goods.
It also said that it had delivered 8,000 leaflets to residents, introduced new signage at recycling centres explaining the change, increased on-site enforcement to educate visitors to the Vale Street site and installed a mobile camera to monitor for fly-tipping.
In the letter issued to residents, Kevin Crook, waste strategy manager at Lambeth, explained: “Unfortunately the Vale Street site suffers from widespread illegal use by commercial organisations making it harder for local residents to use.”
“It also means that residents are paying for the handling and disposal of business waste on behalf of traders and organisations, many of whom are not based in the borough,” he added.
Lambeth council explained that the amount of commercial waste left at the Vale Street site had increased over the past months.
A council report also found that businesses dumping commercial waste at residential facilities like Vale Street were costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds per year, pointing out: Council-tax payers are subsidising the disposal of commercial waste from across South-East London to an estimated sum of around £300,000 per year. This is an unfair burden on residents and an inappropriate use of public money.”
Councillor Sally Prentice, Lambeth's cabinet member for environment, said: “Recycling rates in Lambeth have increased significantly in recent years, but the council is committed to enabling residents to recycle even more of their household waste as easily as possible, so as to reduce the amount of money the council has to spend on landfill.
“The change at the Household Recycling Centre will make sure that residents will be able to recycle even more materials such as wood, rigid plastics and cooking oil. We are also opening a sales centre for reusable items brought to the site. We will be monitoring the local area very closely and taking robust action against fly tipping,” she added.
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