A group of neighbours in Crystal Palace are hoping a petition will convince the council their houses are not suitable for the new wheelie bins being delivered across Croydon. 

New bin collections began yesterday (Monday, September 3) with most households having received new bins. 

Croydon Council has said the move from box bins to wheelie bins is expected to increase recycling in the borough and also save the council £5 million a year.  

Keith Adams, 74, has started a petition on behalf of his neighbours which currently has more than 50 signatures.

He has lived in Summit Way for 15 years and thinks the new bins being rolled out by the council are unsuitable for the terrace houses.

He said: “The petition is saying we want to stick to our existing rubbish boxes which are more than adequate.

“The footprint of these bins is much greater than if the boxes are stacked up.

“While we acknowledge the need to recycle we do not think the council should be adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.

“The requirements of larger households are clearly different to smaller households. The amount recycled will also depend on lifestyle.”

Neighbour Ann O’Connor has been visiting houses in Summit Way and Stambourne Way collecting signatures for the petition. 

She thinks in the next week she will be able to collect more as people return from holidays.

“I was really pleased that we did it face to face; it was a great way to meet people and get a sense of the anger they are feeling,” said Ms O’Connor.

She has sciatica and lives alone so said moving the bins for collections would be difficult for her.

She also said the bins would block her car meaning she would have to move them before she can go out.

“My issue is I can’t physically move three bins every time I want to move my car,” added Ms O’Connor. 

Councillor Stuart Collins, Croydon Council’s cabinet member for Clean, Green Croydon, has said that the council will be flexible on who has to have the bins.

But cases will be examined by Veolia and the council.

“It is not based on opinion, it is based on logistics so we will go out and review it with the contractors,” he said.

“What we will do where it is debatable, is if we see after the first couple of months that it is clearly not working they’ll be able to switch back.”

More recently Cllr Collins acknowledged that there could be teething issues with the new collections and apologised in advance for any inconvenience caused.

Some 75 per cent of households are getting a new collection date.

The council has launched a search tool to find out which day your bins will be collected  at www.croydon.gov.uk/waste-recycling-collection.

The petition was started in paper form but the pair have now started an online version too, which can be found at you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/say-no-to-croydon-monster-bins

They have also set up a dedicated email which is croydonwheelies@gmail.com