Forum Topic

A Stroll around Ealing ........

The sights one can see on a walk around Ealingshow that it is no longer appealingWhatever has happened to this once lovely place?the state of our streets now such a disgrace Dump your mattress and your Christmas Treeout in the road when no-one can see.Pile your black bags on top of your binThe neighbours do this - so is it a sin?Just throw your rubbish outside your doorNo-one seems to care any moreDiscarded drink cans, beer bottles toolying in the gutter, what are we to do?Even the bin men have no sense of prideWheelie bins are just left outsidethey litter the pavement for days on endshoddy behaviour one cannot defend.Fallen leaves are not swept any morediscarded food packets and rubbish galoreDoes nobody care? What on earth can we do?For suggestions dear folks, it's over to you!

Jean F Fernandez ● 3387d21 Comments

It is much much slower for the contractors to be playing the hokey-cokey with the wheelie bins (where's the film?) than just collecting together the black sacks and chucking them in the back of the lorry.  In a nearby borough they are just lifting the black bags out.Whatever the Council did it would be wrong. It is all a power game.  Residents are left on the back foot because they were not vociferous enough to refuse all the packaging (the WI did have at least one campaign) which drew attention to how much more there is/was despite the fact that their Council (and Council Tax) which had to be spent to dispose of it - and everybody's environment which suffers.  The less recycling and residual waste there is the easier it is to safeguard and dispose of.The blocking of www.fixmystreet.com is another example of  how they are not listening to residents. How is it that other Councils manage to take advantage of its usefulness ?

Philippa Bond ● 3377d

For goodness sake Dennis do some research for yourself. I thought that you read the papers - even if it you only read the headlines?!  You must be very tunnel-visioned indeed to not have seen what the Tory government has been doing.  You insist that you support them but then you don't seem to see what they are doing - or know what they stand for.  Why exactly do you think that the current PM made the speech that she did when she took office?We'd all love life to be hunky-dory. Playing school-ground political games is not at all helpful and diverts effort from finding solutions to problems.

Philippa Bond ● 3377d

Another point I must mention is the fact that when AMEY are collecting rubbish anything that falls on the floor is just left there.The bins are dumped on the pavement outside each property instead of being returned to within the boundary. Green food boxes are also left on the street outside some houses.Residents have been warned that they must keep their bins within the boundary of their property so why are the contractors not complying?It is like advertising that the residents are not at home leaving bins out in the street all day long!As for spending money - most of it is actually spent in and around Ealing Broadway!  Acton as always is the poor relation!

Jean F Fernandez ● 3377d

They dispensed with the Streetwatchers Scheme at the same time they introduced the Wheelie Bins.We reported antisocial behaviour to Ealing Council using a designated email address and telephone number but not any more, now we are expected to trawl through pages and pages on the Ealing Website.Streetwatchers acted as the eyes and ears for the Council and our services were given freely. Now our streets are absolutely filthy - around here they have not been swept for MONTHS.  It would seem that AMEY are being paid for actually doing LESS because our streets used to be swept frequently.Rubbish attracts yet more rubbish and it makes one ashamed to walk around Acton.  They only sweep Horn Lane but the side roads are forgotten.If AMEY can't cope maybe the Council should think of an alternative?

Jean F Fernandez ● 3377d

So how much less have this ridiculous Labour Council been given since they have turned our streets into a third world country ? Give me the facts ! Maybe you prefer anti -tribal , transgender , diversity awareness budgets being increased , but I would prefer clean streets and an efficient council ! By the way , there are no prison riots in Ealing as we don't have any prisons

Dennis Brogan ● 3377d

They have to cut all sorts of services.  It's one thing having a shake-up every so often because everything does need to keep on changing to deal with whatever the current situation is but another dealing with a dogmatic Government implementing punitive cuts.  So we have hospitals where the doctors stand around unable to operate until there is a bed available for their booked patient, problems in our prisons with rioting etc.  How exactly does this save money? How many people noticed any changes in what the Council wants for recycling with the new contract and has paid any attention?

Philippa Bond ● 3383d

What do you expect when governed by a Labour incompetent council ?

Dennis Brogan ● 3384d

Karen Cannard of The Rubbish Diet was on Radio 4 this month.Here is the blog page she wrote about it.http://www.therubbishdiet.org.uk/talking-rubbish-on-radio-4/

Philippa Bond ● 3384d

Jean, agree large families must be finding it difficult and hope someone can come up with a good idea soon to sort out the problem.

Janice Evans ● 3385d

I love those wrap-around cardboard sleeves that Amazon use which then go through the letterbox.  They let themselves down with their other oversized box packaging and think that before they start delivering by drone they should improve their technology here.

Philippa Bond ● 3385d

They need a visit from a Recycling Officer - or Keep Britain Tidy.  Always difficult when people are out all day.Recycling and the reuse of resources is on the curriculum several times.  I don't understand why such a large proportion of the young do not think that they have to take part - or do not think that they have to take part once they leave home.  Although I suspect that there is not enough parental input when both parents work and when parents too often do too much for their children.  They should and could be involved in this at home. It would make it easier for the parents too.If the landlords only provide a large dustbin in the kitchen (which I have seen) then it is less likely that they will separate anything.  It is much easier to separate at source. You don't need a very expensive designer bin. Shops like Ikea have had separating bin systems for years and years.  We've been slow in this country.Sometimes I think that is why we should be charged for the amount of residual waste that we produce.I have also seen green boxes full of unsquashed aluminium beer cans. It would be sensible for landlords to provide a can crusher - there are ones for aluminium cans which cost  less than £10. We had a wall-mounted one in an office with a dedicated bin underneath.  It's funny how it brings out the macho in some men.  Can't be bothered myself to have one because they are so easy to flatten by standing on them - and we don't have enough cans. Steel cans are harder but I still stand on those.  Wear stout shoes - not flip flops - and don't fall over when crushing cans!

Philippa Bond ● 3385d

You know if they said they would fine people who don't flatten to reduce the package size, they would soon start to do it.

Janice Evans ● 3385d

Hi Philippa, Did do the feedback on Amazon and ask them why an item that would go through a letterbox is packed in a large box, notice they now put any small unbreakable items in a cardboard envelope with no extra packaging through the letterbox  in perfect condition, so it is good to give them feed back.

Janice Evans ● 3385d

Hi Urs, it would be a good part of School Education recycling wouldn't it, some of the charity shops will take the inside packaging to re-use if it is clean, so that's one way of passing it on.

Janice Evans ● 3385d

I produce ONE small bin bag every 6 to 8 weeks because I am educated when it comes to reducing rubbish/landfill, which includes shopping in the smaller local shops/market where things are not packaged.I recently tried to tackle one lot of renters next to me who fill the regular size black bin in less than a week - they told me they were too busy for 'this sort of sh^^' and that there was no space in their kitchen for separate bins anyway. These are young people in their late 20s who should know better...Who failed them? Their parents? Schools?

Urs Esser ● 3385d

You MUST when buying from Amazon give them feedback on the amount of packaging - they do actually ask for it - although how much attention they pay to it the feedback I don't know.  I suspect that they will soon be taken to court for excessive packaging unless they improve.  The last time I bought from them the box was far too big for the contents.Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said that he had had the most tweets from people complaining about Amazon packaging.Recently there was an amazing picture of a roll of bubble wrap which had been sent surrounded by more air filled packs in a large box!  I haven't managed to find it again.http://www.itv.com/news/2016-12-06/itv-news-investigates-retailers-excessive-packaging-in-deliveries/

Philippa Bond ● 3385d

There is so much extra packaging now with more people buying on-line.

Janice Evans ● 3385d

A lot of people aren't flattening their easily squashed recycling or boxes so many of the bins are filled with air.With many of the bigger boxes all you have to do is strip off the sticky tape holding the seams at the bottom together and then you can flatten them. Packaging is supposed to be designed for recycling which is why you find less of it made of mixed materials.https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201171/recycling_services/280/household_recycling

Philippa Bond ● 3385d

Janice, I just have the smaller black bin which is sufficient as there are only two of us but I am sure that large families are not finding things easy since the introduction of fortnightly collections.

Jean F Fernandez ● 3386d

I bought extra bins Jean, only one goes out on collection day but the extra waste goes in the spare bin safe, secure and tidy.  This might be the answer for others who have the room for extra bins.

Janice Evans ● 3386d

Love it Jean, was reading how much it cost to exchange bins for households and think it must have been larger bins being requested, wonder why small bins were ever introduced if services were to be cut eventually.

Janice Evans ● 3386d