Public Meeting on Waste Management

Osterley discusses refuse, recycling, litter and fly-tips

The Osterley & Wyke Green Residents' Association (OWGRA) held a public meeting on 5 December to discuss waste management, recycling, littering and fly-tipping. The first half of the meeting consisted of a presentation from Lorraine Srivastav from Hounslow Highways (HH) and Chirag Gill from the residents' action group Keep Wembley Tidy. The meeting was held in Isleworth & Syon Boys School.

Over 60 residents braved the cold and dark winter weather to attend the meeting. They were told that HH maintains the streets “fence to fence” and that this includes street cleansing and fly-tip removal. Details were given about HH renewal, repair and maintenance actives and also on its approach to inspection and enforcement.

Mr Gill told the residents that dirty streets became such an issue in Wembley that people formed Keep Wembley Tidy in order to play an active role in improving the situation. He outlined many of their activities and the way they work with their local authority. He said that they had already managed to bring about significant improvements to the street scene but added that they still had a long way to go. Their aim, he explained, is to get residents to play their part in making Wembley cleaner and tidier.

The talks were followed by 30 minutes discussion in which many questions were put to both speakers.

After a refreshment break the meeting was addressed by William Gray and Bruce Smith from the Hounslow Council Recycling and Waste Team. The residents were reminded of the system of coloured boxes used since July 2017. After that the speakers explained different approaches to waste management and why Hounslow had adopted its current approach. They said that there was a high level of acceptance of that approach and that there had been significant improvements in the percentage of waste recycled (now up to 35% in September and still rising). There had been a steep rise in the reporting of fly-tipping but that could be due to greater vigilance rather than more fly-tipping. Finally, details were given on what can be recycled and what can't and therefore how to raise the level of recycling.

The audience were keen to put their questions and points and if there had been more than the 20 minutes available before closing the meeting many more would have been put.

A more detailed report of the meeting plus recordings of the presentations given will soon be available on the OWGRA website.

December 12, 2017