Unwanted furniture, fridges and other large household rubbish items could soon be collected for free if drastic plans to help stop fly-tipping in Newham are approved.
Currently there is a £20 charge for the Newham Council’s bulky waste collection service and only some items can be disposed of for free at the Jenkins Lane Re-use and Recycling Centre.
Under the new proposal, households would be entitled to three free collections of large items every year.
Up to six items could be collected at any one time.
Manor Park councillor Mariam Dawood is bringing the proposal to the next full council meeting on October 29.
“There have been major concerns from residents regarding the scale of fly-tipping in Newham,” the motion states.
“Other local authorities that have removed bulky waste collection charges have subsequently observed a significant decrease in fly-tipping.
“This council therefore resolves to remove the bulky waste collection charge and instead introduce three free collections of up to six items for Newham households every year.”
The Local Government Association, which represents more than 370 councils, warned that clearing up fly-tipping cost the taxpayer £57 million last year – a rise of 13 per cent.
Newham is one of the ten areas in London most impacted by littering and fly-tipping.
In 2016/17 the borough handed out 116 fines for fly-tipping, totalling £48,550.
Cllr Rachel Tripp, cabinet member for the environment and highways, said: “One of the big problems the council is looking to tackle is the reliability of the data we collect.
“At the moment the best measure we have is to look at the weight of rubbish cleared from our streets in tonnes. Looking at those figures there is no evidence to conclusively show there has been any increase in tonnage collected as a result of the introduction of the bulky waste charge.
“Most of what is dumped on our streets is not items of furniture, but bags of domestic waste, which are unaffected by the bulky waste charge.
“However I am committed to listening to residents, I know they are distressed by fly tipping and I am too. We have pledged to make a difference to our streets.”
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