Do your bins get put back in the garden after the refuse collector has emptied them? Not everywhere they don’t! According to the Haringey website the expected practice is clear enough. “The evening before collection day, please: Put your wheelie bin as close to the edge of your property as possible (next to the front gate, if you have one). ………. Once it has been emptied your bin will be returned to the collection point. Please do not leave your bin on the pavement.”

It would be so simple for the council to return bins. Instead, leaving the bins out and about makes the road looks a mess and the pavement can be hard to pass in places. Several of us have called the Haringey helpline to get this practice changed but to no avail.

This problem is just one aspect – and a one day a week one – of the wider wheelie bin saga. There are some streets where bins are on the pavements 24/7. A resident in the Miltons (the Highgate hot spot for bins in the street) has blogged about it.

The forum has taken as strong a line as possible on the unappealing aspects of the wheelie bin problem in the latest draft neighbourhood plan for Highgate which is now out for consultation. On page 59 it says: “Highgate has a very specific problem with the storage of residential refuse and waste exacerbated by the sub-division of many larger terraced properties into flats. Often these bins or dumpsters are so large that they can only be stored in public areas or on the street, resulting in an unsightly, unhealthy and cluttered environment. A straightforward way to solve the issue of cluttered pavements and the impact on the local environment and amenity is to ensure that all new developments and subdivisions can accommodate their waste storage requirements on site and are suitably screened. Where additional waste containers are stored off street they must not obscure light wells or windows to basement flats and lessen the amenity of the residents of these properties.”

Proposed policy DH9 seeks to address the issue for any future build. It says: “All new development will be required to ensure that waste facilities are well designed and sensitively integrated into developments. The requirements of Haringey policy DM4 and standards set out in Appendix 3 of the Sustainable Design and Construction SPD must be applied to new developments ensuring that refuse storage points are appropriately located so they will not impact upon the amenity of neighbouring properties and obscure light wells or basement windows.”

So hopefully the problem won’t get any worse but that still leaves us to muddle by with what we have. If your street has bins lying around after the collection lorries have been, please let us know in the comment at the end of this post.

If you feel like prodding the council, the details for Haringey are the Veolia Haringey Contact Centre: 020 8885 7700 or enquiries.haringey@veolia.com In any case, do please comment on the plan if this issue is important to you.

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