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Single waste collection service proposed for Merton, Sutton, Kingston and Croydon boroughs

11:06am Monday 1st August 2011 in Merton Photograph of the Author By Omar Oakes

Single waste collection service proposed for four boroughs Single waste collection service proposed for four boroughs

The way rubbish is collected and disposed of needs a complete overhaul, according to Merton Council’s environment policy boss.

Councillor Andrew Judge said Merton Council needed to bring about a single service for waste services with its neighbours in Sutton, Kingston and Croydon – the South London Waste Partnership (SLWP) – for which an incinerator is likely to play a central role.

Coun Judge said: “We have to move on from sticking rubbish into a hole in the ground, and if we are tied into a 30-year contract for a new waste facility, our plan is that there would be a lot more joint working.

“One service would mean greater economies of scale, such as not having two sets of collections in places like St Helier, and only needing one set of managers.”

Coun Judge said the wide-ranging plans meant Merton Council’s Labour administration could not rule out bringing in wheelie bins, a policy heavily opposed by opposition Conservative councillors.

At a full council at Merton Civic Centre in Morden, the Labour group and three Merton Park Independent councillors blocked a Conservative motion that would commit the council to drop the policy.

The Conservative group’s environment spokesman, Councillor Henry Nelless, said: “Labour was always destined to let residents down, but the real disappointment is that, despite the Merton Park ward councillors holding the balance of power, they seem content to slavishly follow every Labour policy.”

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Merton Park ward residents voted in May to reject the wheelie bins plan and last month a cross-party waste services review, led by Merton Park Independent Councillor John Sargeant, recommended the council abandon plans for wheelie bins.

But Coun Sargeant said: “The Conservatives’ motion just seemed so arrogant.

“It could mean that the council was condemned to miss out on a major commercial opportunity that could save an awful lot of money.

“This is not an academic debating point; we are really working on the margins here.”

What do you think? Leave a comment below, call 020 8722 6335 or email: ooakes@london.newsquest.co.uk.

Comments(5)

tjames says...
2:07pm Mon 1 Aug 11

i think merton labour are going to dump on us--incinerator in a tory voting area such as lower morden!

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Krissi says...
3:05pm Mon 1 Aug 11

and where will they site the incinerator as I know Sutton doesn't want it, and does that mean the collections will still be weekly ? will we have to sort more or less of our recycling? I believe Kingston has special separate bins for card, paperand plastics, Croydon keeps their glass and card/paper separate from general recycling what model will they follow will we have to separate drinks tins from food tins, plastic milk containers from drinks bottles ? or will they treat us like mushrooms as usual, not telling us anything until the last minute when there is no time for anyone to object?

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Michael Pantlin says...
6:22pm Mon 1 Aug 11

Will there be a mobile incinerator with a chimney touring the four boroughs reducing the waste to ash as it goes along? Then no one place will be stuck with it permanently, just a minute a week outside each house.

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DB says...
5:11pm Tue 2 Aug 11

I thought that this crazy idea had been written off years ago!

It can't be very nice living near one of these facilities as it is, but living close to a 'mega' incinerator serving a massive area would be a nightmare, especially given the extra traffic and congestion that would be caused. It would be a massive disadvatange for one borough and a small advantage for the other three.

Has this scheme even been costed properly? I am sure that there would be some savings in management headcount, but the transport costs would be massive.

Say the incinerator was to be put in Kingston - the waste from Croydon would have to be driven over in lorries. That is a journey that can take over an hour in the middle of the day, and longer in peak times. Presumably, there would be many journeys each day. The cost would be massive.

These boroughs might be close geographically, but London traffic means it takes a long time to get between them.

Hopefully this will be properly reviewed before any costly decisions are made.

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mangad says...
11:50pm Wed 3 Aug 11

Incinerator or no, I'm amazed that few people have so far not come to the conclusion that having 30 odd different waste policies and collection systems in London is utterly bonkers and hardly cost effective.

Merging council collections together has to be a good thing. Why? Well where does the waste go once Merton Council has collected it? More than likely it goes out of borough already! We can talk all we want out the wasteage of Kingston lorries going to Croydon or whatever, but I'll put serious money on the fact that that's actually what happening anyway!

Is there a landfill site in Merton? If there is, I've never heard of it. So if, as very likely, our waste is going out of borough already, so will other councils waste.

Merton Council has a page on landfill on its website - notably it doesn't mention once where the landfill sites are!
http://www.merton.go
v.uk/environment/rec
yclingwastemanagemen
t/recycling/whyrecyc
le/landfill.htm

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