Rubbish Roundup 12th November

Rubbish Roundup 12^th November

Residents in Ipswich have been urged to be vigilant and look out for drug-related litter in and around the city. Suffolk Constabulary’s Safer Neighbourhood Team made the plea on Twitter and asked residents to be on the lookout for items like needles, syringes spoons, tin foil, cling film, gas canisters, bottles and baby wipes.

Ipswich Borough Council is responsible for the collection and disposal of drug-related litter that is found on local authority land and some other public areas. The council has warned people not to try and dispose of the litter themselves as it could be potentially dangerous.

The controversial litter enforcement firm Kingdom has been told by Wrexham Council that it’s ending its contract with them early. The decision was made after it emerged that the firm didn’t issue a single fine in August and September. The contract was meant to run until May next year but it’s set to end in December. It is not clear what arrangements will be made to deal with people who drop litter, but there are concerns that if the council have to pay for a new service it will further stretch their already tight budget.

The Kingdom contract has been dogged by controversy. Fed up residents led a public protest in September about the conduct of the firm’s enforcement officers and their methods. The firm also failed to tackle the problem of dog fouling which was in the terms of their contract. A cross-party council committee found that only 39 fines were handed out for fouling between November 2017 and May 2018, compared to 2,267 penalties for littering.

Kingdom has had contracts with eight councils in Wales, and those in Gwynedd, Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Torfaen were either ended or just not renewed. Blaenau Gwent council still has an existing contract with Kingdom, though it said it was considering its options for the future.

Dublin city council has secured funding from the Department for the Environment for a new initiative that aims to tackle the illegal dumping of waste. The area of Ballymun in the city was blighted by littering and fly-tipping but seven spots have been transformed into ‘pocket gardens’ to brighten up communities and bring some greenery and biodiversity to public areas. The idea behind the gardens is that as they grow and bloom, they’ll be less likely to attract litter. Local residents got involved in the projects as the council aimed to get people to look after where they live and feel proud of it. If people care about where they live, they’re less likely to tolerate litter. The council said that the project has really boosted community spirit.

A local councillor praised residents for their hard work and said that there has been virtually no fly-tipping at the garden spots since the start of the project. She added that she would like to see the programme rolled out to other areas and said she would be seeking further funding for 2019.