Newham Council and Keep Britain Tidy have hosted an event in the borough to tackle fly-tipping.
Thirty of Newham’s most ardent campaigners against fly-tipping – where waste, both domestic and commercial is dumped on the borough’s streets and green spaces – met up in a forum to discuss how this environmental crime can be tackled by the council and residents.
The campaigners, alongside officers from the council took part in workshops to define, challenge and work on solutions to the problem, which were led by Keep Britain Tidy.
The day long event was hosted by Newham cabinet member for the environment and highways Rachel Tripp. She said: 'This is the first time we've come together in this way to really look at the problem of fly-tipping.'
“It’s about really listening to people, doing things together to make things better, feeding back honestly about the changes we can make, and the challenges we face and what the outcomes are. It's also about increasing our, and residents' understanding of the problem of fly tipping, by looking at our experiences and Keep Britain Tidy's extensive research to work towards meaningful solutions..”
“This is a fundamental change in the way the council now wants to work under the new administration headed by Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz.”
During the day attendees were asked to define fly-tipping and examine the drivers which led people to dump waste on the streets, they were then challenged to come up with solutions.
Among the most popular suggestions were for the council to create a “welcome pack” to be distributed to private landlords to give to new residents explaining their responsibilities, for example bin collection times, dates and pick up points.
There was also support for re-vamping high streets with the hope that by beautifying neighbourhoods, people would take more pride in their surroundings, leading to less irresponsible dumping.
Other ideas included educating children in schools about taking responsibility for disposing of waste, a buddy system to encourage neighbours to share bulky waste collections, community spruce-ups, and introducing “love your ward” weekends to bring communities together dispose of waste together.
Following the forum Newham Council will work with Keep Britain Tidy to pilot some of the ideas generated from the discussions, and measure their effectiveness. If the ideas turn in to schemes that work, they could then by rolled out across the borough.
Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz said: “This is about getting to the root causes of why people treat Newham the way they do, because we are all part of a community which should be embracing the beauty of Newham and keeping it tidy.”
After the event Ted Blair, from Green Street said: “Today was a great opportunity to discuss ideas with other residents, it’s been a lot of fun, it’s been nice to see that people have the same thoughts and care about the environment – and were agreed on a lot of ideas to take this forward, so it’s been a great day.”
Resident Karl O’Keefe said: “The one thing I’ve always wanted from the council regarding fly-tipping was to have a conversation. For years a lot of people wanted to have that conversation, and for years we weren’t getting that back.
“But since Rokhsana Fiaz has become Mayor and having events like today, where we are having that conversation, and feeling like the things you are saying are going to be acted upon I think is really, really positive.”