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Loïc Frémond enjoys living in London, appreciating the lively atmosphere on summer evenings with laughter drifting from nearby pubs and bars. However, this charm is marred by the unpleasant presence of rubbish piled along the pavements in his neighbourhood. These bin bags, filled with mixed household waste, often end up torn open with their contents scattered across the street, a frequent consequence of vermin rummaging through them while they await collection.
Mr. Frémond’s personal experience with this issue began about eight months ago when the local council in Tower Hamlets ordered the closure of the bin room in his apartment building. Before this change, residents could dispose of their rubbish and recycling directly into designated bins inside the building. The concierge would then place these bins outside on collection days for refuse workers to empty. After the closure, however, residents were instructed to leave their rubbish bags on the pavement directly outside the building, with collections scheduled twice daily. While intended as a solution, this has led to rubbish accumulating on the pavements for extended periods, attracting foxes and rats, causing bad odours, and obstructing pedestrian pathways.
The situation has negatively affected not only the look and cleanliness of the area near Spitalfields Market, a well-known London spot celebrated for its food and art stalls, but also the community spirit. Mr. Frémond shared his frustration, noting that sometimes the rubbish simply remains out in the open until midday or later the following day. He added, “The rubbish just sits on the pavement all night long – sometimes until midday the next day.” The problem extends beyond household waste, as local businesses also place their bin bags on the streets for collection by various private waste contractors, resulting in bin bags frequently lining the pavements at any time of day.
In comparing different approaches across London and beyond, some boroughs like Wandsworth and Havering require residents to leave bin bags on pavements or just inside their property boundaries, forgoing wheelie bins altogether. Outside the capital, many councils adopt a mixed strategy where wheelie bins are used if space allows, otherwise rubbish bags are collected from the street. Alternatives such as subterranean communal bins, found in parts of Tower Hamlets and other cities like Liverpool and Sheffield, have been praised by experts. Nicholas Boys Smith, a former government adviser on urban design, highlighted an example he saw during a visit to Clamart, a suburb near Paris, where underground bins integrated into pavements collect rubbish discreetly and efficiently. Mr. Boys Smith remarked, “[They] help avoid ‘death by wheelie bin’, which plagues so many British streets [on collection day].”
Housing expert Samuel Hughes from the Centre for Policy Studies also supports subterranean bins as the optimal rubbish disposal method in towns and cities. He pointed out that many Western European cities, including Florence where he once lived, widely use these systems. However, certain challenges remain, such as finding suitable locations for installation—either pavements or parking bays—which can provoke complaints due to the loss of parking spaces. In addition, the costs of purchasing and installing these bins are significantly higher than traditional wheelie bins, complicating adoption for financially constrained councils. The underground infrastructure of cables and pipes poses further technical obstacles, especially on busy high streets where space is limited. In response, councils have experimented with various measures to tidy up rubbish removal, including marking pavements with collection points and employing containers originally intended for other uses. Businesses in some areas, like Putney, have taken innovative steps by collectively using electric bikes to transport waste to central collection sites. Meanwhile, Mr. Frémond hopes that similar initiatives might improve conditions in his neighbourhood, where despite its vibrancy, the persistent issue of rubbish left on the doorstep remains an unwelcome problem
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