Landfills across the UK are brimming as the amount of both household and industrial waste continues to steadily rise. Each year the UK produces more than 434 million tonnes of waste - enough to fill the Albert Hall every two hours. <br><br>Islington Council understands that this is a huge environmental problem but also understands that residents need to be able to dispose of their rubbish, which is why the Council offers a wide range of rubbish collection services from household kerbside collections, to green box recycling, to a bulky waste service. <br><br>However the councils responsibility to residents needs to be balanced against efforts to improve the way waste is disposed of in the borough and, where we can, we will promote better ways of waste management to safeguard our environment for the future.<br><br>The council will be improving the waste disposal options for residents by offering an improved bulky waste collection to the entire borough. Currently residents are entitled to three free bulky waste pick-ups each year. We will be expanding this service shortly to provide an increased amount of collections for the convenience of residents. Additionally the council has given £200k to Homes for Islington to expand its estate rubbish bulk collection services with ICSL.<br><br>Councillor Bridget Fox, executive member for sustainability said; <br>"I'm delighted with the improvements the council has made offering all residents more environmentally-friendly ways to get rid of their rubbish. We think that residents will find the increased bulky waste collection much more convenient as they can book the pick up for a time that suits them. Plus we are delighted that we are including more materials in our green box service. This means that waste can be dealt with quickly amd conveniently, and more of it will be recycled."<br><br>This is comes hot on the tail of the opening of the Waste Recycling Centre in Hornsey Road last autumn. The WRC has provision for both recycling and reuse of bulky objects, garden waste and other household recyclables. Subsidies on composers for garden waste are offered to Islington's green fingered, plus the successful green waste collection is likely to be expanded this summer. <br><br>Islington currently offers a weekend skip service but following a review it will be phased out this summer. This decision has not been made lightly and only after determining that the many other waste services the council offers can support its removal. Skips, while popular with some, aren't available to all residents and builders and other traders disposing of trade waste have abused the service.<br><br>"We want to make it easy for all residents to get rid of bulky waste but the skip service is no longer the best option. The waste that is dumped in the skips goes to landfill or incineration rather than being recycled. " said Cllr Fox.<br><br>The council has also been working hard to reduce the level of flytipping in the borough. A programme that sees dedicated staff responding to complaints of flytips with in 24 hours of notification and targeting areas that are know "grotspots" has seen the instances of flytips steadily fall from 476 in February 2004 to 269 in February 2005.
Page Last Updated: 29 July 2008