No, I am not insulting the beautiful tree lined boulevards of Stroud Green – I am referring to the disgusting habit of dumping which serves to turn a lovely neighbourhood into a municipal tip.
Spending as much time as I do ambling through the streets of Stroud Green, I cannot help but gasp – still! – when I see mattresses, bed bases, TVs, pallets, Christmas trees, kid’s bikes (the list goes on, but you get the picture) dumped unceremoniously on the pavement. Sometimes people put things next to litter bins, like that makes it ok. Clue: it doesn’t.
I report what I see to the council and then go back to make sure it’s been taken away, as promised. But that’s not a sustainable answer – we could go on forever like that.
Obviously, there will always be those people who dump their stuff, no matter how easy/cheap/free you make it for them to be able to get rid of the unwanted items. Maybe they get a perverse thrill out of dumping a three piece suite at 3am, who knows. It’s not an experience I think I’ll be trying somehow.
But there must be ways of making it happen less. The council provides free collections for fridges, freezers, ovens, tumble dryers, washing machines, TVs and car tyres, car batteries and gas cylinders – hands up how many people knew that? Perhaps not those who dump their fridges, freezers, ovens, tumble dryers, washing machines, TVs and car tyres, car batteries and gas cylinders!
But what about furniture? Bed bases, mattresses, arm chairs and settees are the things I see dumped the most, I think. You have to pay to have those things taken – hence the dumping.
If elected in May I am going to see what I can do about this – whether it’s extending the list of things the council collects for free, encouraging the use of Freecycle and also establishing a council repair service for household goods – just like Green Party Cllr Katie Dawson, in neighbouring Islington, has just done! Repair, reuse, recycle…
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