Sunday, August 09, 2009

Waste

I made use of Lewisham's latest recycling service last weekend. On Saturday and Sunday mornings until 1 November there are collection points for garden waste only at four points around the borough so you no longer have to take it all the way down to Landmann Way next to the Millwall ground. On Kitto Road by Cafe Orange and three other places* there's a lorry waiting to receive your grass cuttings and unwanted branches (as long as they are less than 4 cm thick).

Things have certainly moved on since the days when the council dump was literally just a long pile of miscellaneous refuse. Still something has also been lost, namely the possibility of finding things. I am always amazed by the amount of seemingly useful stuff in the skips at Landmann Way, from speakers to furniture. Last weekend I saw somebody committing the ultimate crime of throwing piles of books into a skip. Gone are the days when you could help yourself or slip the workers a fiver. I know a lot of stuff genuinely gets recycled but much ends up in landfill or the incinerator.

I'm not arguing for a return to 'slumdog millionaire' style rubbish dumps but wouldn't it be possible to have a place in each area where people could leave things that other people might find useful?

Until then, there's always Lewisham Freecycle.

* The other locations are: Top of Riddons Road adjacent to Grove Park allotments; Laurence House Lorry Park, Catford and Girton Road Car Park, Sydenham.

1 comment:

Dan, Deptford said...

It would be great if Lewisham council could put a sign up at the entrance suggesting people use Freecycle before dumping all manner of useful stuff in the tip, or the easier & more informal method of leaving your unwanted stuff outside your house - it mostly goes even if it is the rag & bone man.