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Rubbish Research
Response to Qa Research, Residents Association
Survey 2010, on waste and recycling, commissioned by Inner
NW Area Committee, 22 February 2010.
Question 1 What are your perceptions of waste and recycling
in this area (Inner North West)?
Leeds HMO Lobby notes that waste and recycling in Inner NW Leeds
is a well-documented failure (not just a perception), specifically
within the Area of Housing Mix (AHM). In 2002, LCC commissioned
a survey from ENCAMS which identified Headingley as the filthiest
ward in the city.
The waste collection and recycling system fails in three respects.
(1) Ubiquity: the AHM is comprehensively infested with litter and
rubbish.
- Bins are not used effectively. (a) They are filled to overflowing,
they are not put out regularly, they are not retrieved. (b) Users
make no distinction between black and green bins, so recycled waste
is contaminated.
- Yards and gardens are disfigured with waste; occupants make no
effort to clear up waste; indeed, many seem to take pride in collecting
emptied bottles.
- Streets are also infested with waste, litter and rubbish - household
spillage from bins, household goods dumped, take-away packaging
discarded.
(2) Seasonality: the waste problem varies enormously throughout
the year.
- In vacations (Christmas, Easter, Summer) household waste, yards
and gardens, and streets, gradually get cleaned up and decent.
- In term-time however waste rapidly accumulates and persists.
- Annually, at student changeover, waste becomes overwhelming: huge
quantities of normal waste, but also abnormal waste, including household
goods, fixtures and fittings, are dumped in yards & gardens
and in the street (apparently, 250 tons of extra waste); the impact
is exacerbated by 'bag-slashers'.
(3) Functionality: waste bins are frequently abused, becoming dysfunctional.
- Being left out permanently, they obstruct pavements, affecting
especially push-chairs, wheel-chairs and the visually impaired.
- They are used for amusement in races, stacked in gardens or across
streets, or on parked cars.
- As such, they become unusable for waste.
One overall outcome is rodent infestation, the worst in the city.
Question 2 Are there any issues regarding waste and recycling
in this area?
Leeds HMO Lobby considers that the key issue regarding waste collection
and recycling in AHM is the lack of correlation between waste problems
and methods of waste disposal.
The key characteristic of AHM is domination by houses in multiple
occupation (HMOs), which have a number of distinctive features.
- Occupation density of HMOs is typically twice that of single households,
hence double the quantity of waste.
- Occupants of HMOs are usually young adults, with a lifestyle which
includes a high proportion of ready-made or fast-food or take-aways,
all of which entail high quantities of packaging waste.
- Occupiers of HMOs are not organised (as in a single household),
meaning that there is no coherent management of waste disposal.
- Occupancy of HMOs is short-term, which tends towards a lack of
concern for the impact of waste on the local environment.
Question 3 Do you think there are any barriers stopping
people from recycling in this area?
Leeds HMO Lobby considers that the barriers, not only to recycling,
but also to adequate waste disposal at all, are in fact the people
living in AHM. Two groups are readily identified.
- Residents are long-term and responsible. In fact, the level of
civic responsibility among local residents is probably higher than
average (note the number of local voluntary initiatives). But residents
are in a minority.
- Students comprise the majority of the local population (some two-thirds
of Headingley Ward, for instance). They are the main occupants of
HMOs. They are young, seasonal and transient. This means that -
(a) they are inexperienced in waste disposal; and being dominant,
they have few experienced neighbours to learn from;
(b) they are seasonal, leading to fluctuating pressure on the waste
disposal system;
(c) they are transient, which causes the annual problem of the turnover;
but it also means that the student population is perpetually renewed,
and so experience of waste management never accumulates.
- A third group may be identified, comprising residents who abandon
attempts to recycle, when they see their efforts come to nothing,
due to the abuse of the system.
Question 4 What do you think could be done to encourage
more recycling in this area?
Leeds HMO Lobby considers that attempting to encourage recycling
in AHM is premature. The priority must be to resolve the more fundamental
problem of waste disposal.
Numerous attempts have been made. Headingley Streetscene, a new
system for waste disposal, was initiated in 2002, in response to
the ENCAMS survey. It soon became defunct: on the one hand, it was
very resource-intensive; on the other, it failed to take account
of the need for continuous renewal, due to population transience.
Subsequently, various publicity campaigns have been tried, to little
avail.
The Lobby suggests -
- Within AHM, streets dominated by HMOs should be identified (there
are 72 such streets in South Headingley, another 28 in the Ash Road
area, and more elsewhere); in these streets, a dedicated disposal
system should be adopted.
- The dedicated disposal system should comprise -
a) ensuring sufficient bin capacity and type, appropriate to the
house and street type;
b) abandoning attempts to differentiate ordinary and recyclable
waste, adopting a single simple system;
c) collecting and returning bins to properties by the waste collection
service.
- Accessible recycling facilities should be provided within the
dedicated disposal streets, for those residents and students who
still wish to recycle.
If such a dedicated disposal system requires additional funding,
then this should not be provided by the local Area Committee (as
at present), but by either the City centrally (which benefits from
the university presence) or (better still) by those who cause the
problems (students) and/or the institutions which bring them to
AHM (universities).
Leeds HMO Lobby, 5 March 2010
Leeds HMO Lobby
email: hmolobby@hotmail.com
website: www.hmolobby.org.uk/leeds
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