Tower Hamlets: normal rubbish from Monday

TOWER HAMLETS Council will resume normal rubbish collections from Monday, 8th January – after collecting over 2,000 tonnes of commercial and household waste from the adjusted collection timetable which operated over the seasonal break.

There will also be a free Christmas tree collection service (for real trees) from 8th till 22nd January, when trees can be left out with the rubbish or taken to the Council tip.

The Council has asked residents to be “clean and green” this January – and has issued an official five tips to help. These are:
•recyle your Christmas tree (applies only to residents who have trees, excluding plastic trees);
•feed your food caddy with leftovers (applies only to residents within the food waste collection scheme, which covers ground floor properties and most households in Poplar Harca and THCH);
•check the Council’s website for further tips (such as not buying too much food so you don’t end up throwing too much away);
•don’t fly tip, but arrange collection of items (but check the Council website first, as the procedure is not straightforward);
•check the Council website to see what you can recycle.

Some residents were left underwhelmed by the tips, pointing out that one of the biggest factors affecting recycling was the difficulty of obtaining “pink” bags and estate management by housing association landlords.

Nonetheless, Mayor John Biggs warmly congratulated residents on throwing away rubbish with the Council (not that residents have any choice). “The Clean and Green campaign has been an important initiative to help residents be even greener, and we want this to continue in 2018,” he said. “Around 40 per cent of waste we produce can be recycled, so it is great to see so many local people making use of our waste services over the Christmas period,” he continued, with what would appear to be something of a non sequitur.

Cllr Rachel Blake, the Cabinet Member for Strategic Development and Waste, congratulated residents on throwing their rubbish away, saying, “Before Christmas we clearly communicated the changes to waste and recycling collection over the festive period, to make it as easy as possible for local residents to get rid of their waste.” She also urged residents to recycle their Christmas trees.

•Read more about it:
UK faces rubbish quandary
Voice lays out plans for 2018

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