Copy of letter sent to local media:
The level of debate on the current spat over garden waste collections has been disappointingly negative and perhaps over-simplistic.
The Green party agrees with Councillor Hall that ‘free’ waste collections are nothing of the sort, and that it’s a good idea to encourage people to take more responsibility for their own waste where possible. It might not be politically popular but global events should make it clear to us that we cannot rely on politicians to deliver everything for us- people have to take a lead too. He’s also right to remind us that throwing rubbish in landfill sites is not just wasteful but very expensive. We are producing a lot more waste these days and it makes sense to refuse excess packaging, and and re-use whatever we can, before we recycle, or put material into the waste stream. Composting is easy and makes good sense, returning organic matter to the soil system. There may be a risk of increased fly-tipping but the last time Sutton Council dabbled with home composting they made a terrible hash of it, delivering unwanted bins - most of which themselves went to waste, to everyone. The relatively small charge for green waste collections this time might encourage people to think more positively about composting.
Sutton Council haven’t made their task of selling this scheme any easier by the huge salary hikes for senior officers – that’s a policy I would not like to defend. Also as an active composter myself I do have some concerns about the woody waste from shrubs and trees which don’t compost easily. This one needs more thinking about perhaps. We do however need some more imaginative thinking on waste- and encouraging more home composting is part of that thinking.
1 comment:
we compost everything we can in our garden. We rely on the garden collections for the larger twigs etc. that don't compost down.
Charging the people that actually care about green space isn't the answer. Charge the people that don't care. Otherwise it just encourages people to pave over their front gardens for example.
I don't want to pay an additional charge on top of council tax, and as the only alternative is to burn waste - we're going to see a lot more air pollution in Sutton with garden bonfires. For the first time today I had to bring the washing in, and use the tumble dryer instead as someone nearby had a bonfire going.
Not only that, but they'll be additional pollution from more people driving to the badly organised dump in Sutton - as well as all the lorries picking up the green waste from the few people that pay.
A bad thought out idea, and the most negative thing I can ever remember the Lib dems doing. Sad and worrying times.
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