26 August (Part 2) - Bexley and Greenwich Councils end an uneasy truce
A
few days ago a reader asked why I had not reported
the changes Greenwich Council is making to its recycling arrangements. I
said I had but it turns out I only had an email conversation about it with
someone else. It’s an age thing!
And what is it to do with Bexley anyway?
Greenwich plans to charge Bexley residents a tenner for using their recycling centres, that’s what.
The problem arises because Bexley Council has not seen fit to provide the North West of
the borough with what is frequently called a dump - which invites a number of
bad jokes about the area which are best avoided.
If those of us in the North West corner have some unusual rubbish to get rid of we must
drive to the furthest outreaches of the borough or dump it in the woods. The
more responsible take a short trip over the border into Greenwich and make use
of their facilities - but not any more, the woods it is likely to be in future.
From next Saturday Greenwich Council will begin to charge visitors to their
recycling sites £10 unless they can show an RBG Council Tax bill or similar ID.
It has been suggested that Greenwich and Bexley should provide reciprocal
services but that won’t work, no Greenwich resident would want to pass their own
dump and travel seven more miles almost to Dartford.
Bexley Conservatives are having fun at Greenwich’s expense and I must admit that
their graphic (above) is quite funny but at least Greenwich provides their residents with a dump
while Bexley ignores a large chunk of its borough and gives them nothing at all.
I am not affected, in 31 years I have not visited any dump, whether it be in Bexley or across the border.
I have at various times dismantled a lawn mower and an A3+ printer and put the
components into the bin. The whole of my front garden wall went the same way
after someone drove into it. It took several months but eventually it went.
What is defeating me is out of date and unwanted electronic components. Bexley
used to provide the appropriate street bins but the cuts saw the end of them. I
could just chuck them in the green bin but there is a lot of rare and probably
valuable metals on those circuit boards and it seems a shame to send them to
landfill. I might care but as usual Bexley Council doesn’t.
