Keeping your streets clean
Every public street in the borough is cleaned at least twice a week. This includes the removal of dog mess, dumped rubbish and the emptying of litter bins. To improve cleanliness, the main clean will now take place on the same day as the refuse and recycling collections.
Some streets in the busiest areas, particularly in Battersea and Tooting, receive three cleans a week. Other busy streets such as bus routes and streets around town centres are cleaned every day.
We try to minimise the amount of street litter by providing an effective street cleaning service as well as the enforcement of litter related legislation and anti-litter education campaigns.
Street cleansing contract
Connaught Environmental Ltd took over as the contractor responsible for cleaning Wandsworths' streets on 1 April 2006. The new contract introduced extra cleaning services in the borough, including:
- Clapham Junction and Tooting town centres now recieve double the amount of cleans (from 6 cleans previously, up to 12)
- Main shopping areas in Southfields and Earlsfield now recieve an extra clean each day
- Busy roads, such as Putney Hill, Merton Road, Southcroft Road and Nightingale Lane get a more thorough clean each day of the week
- Residential roads that have, in the past, suffered from a high level of fly-tipping and litter have an extra clean each week
The council and Connaught Environmental Ltd work closely together to ensure that your streets are kept clean and that all complaints are dealt with promptly. More information about Connaught Environmental Ltd.
Shopping areas
Balham town centre is cleaned continually between 6am and 2am every day, except Christmas Day. Putney and Wandsworth have a similar service from 6am to midnight. Clapham Junction and Tooting Broadway town centres have additional cleans (12 each day between 6am and 2am) as they suffer from a high level of littering.
Smaller shopping areas and through routes (including the main shopping areas in Earlsfield and Southfields) are cleaned at least daily.
Our street cleaning contractor sweeps 2,000 km of streets each week!
Litter bins
There are about 1400 litter bins in the borough. Each bin is emptied at least once a day with extra collections if needed.
Please help to keep Wandsworth clean by using the bins provided but don't forget to take newspapers, cans and bottles home for recycling.
People who carelessly drop litter in a public open place are committing a criminal offence, yet over 8,000 tonnes of street litter are collected each year in Wandsworth
Rapid response service
This service provides a quick response to all calls about dirty streets and small fly-tips. In general, all reports require a response on the same day that we are notified. If problems are reported late in the day, the contractor may have until noon of the next working day to take action.
Fly tip clearance
If a large fly-tip is reported, this should be cleared within two week days (Monday to Friday). Reports of fly-tipping may have to be investigated by our waste enforcement team before being cleared.
This service does not operate on Christmas Day (25th December) and will only operate for part of the day on the following dates each year: 24 December, 26 December, 31 December and 1 January.
Weed control service
An environmentally friendly weed killer is used to remove weeds on our public streets three times each year. The chemical used limits the risk of damage to tree roots and pollution of ground water. Throughout the rest of the year, weeds are removed manually as part of the main cleaning service. More information about weed spraying
Bridges
Regular washing is carried out underneath railway bridges to tackle mess left by pigeons. We are working with Network Rail to ensure that they carry out measures to prevent birds from roosting under bridges.
Leaves
In October and November each year, an extra service is provided to remove fallen leaves.
Household pets
Any dead household pets found by our street cleansing contractor are scanned for identification 'micro-chips'. Collars and identification tags are kept, along with a description of the animal for a minimium of three months. Contact us for any enquiries regarding this service.
Recycling site clearance
All recycling sites on public streets are cleared of litter every day. It is a criminal offence to dump rubbish at these sites.
Extra cleaning services are provided during and after major events in the borough, including the University Boat Race and Wimbledon Tennis
Reporting a problem
If you see a build up of litter or a fly-tip please contact us. We will arrange for our contractors to respond as quickly as possible. Please try to gather all the information you can about the location before you call to help us deal with the matter swiftly.
Contact us to report problems with street cleansing.
You can use our online street defects form to report broken bollards, blocked gullies, defective signals and abandoned vehicles.
Emergency response
We aim to respond to reports of a road traffic accident, hazardous spillage (e.g. glass, paint, oil) or a dead animal within one hour during the day and two hours at night. To report a problem of this kind out of office hours, call (020) 8871 6000.
If a complaint is made about the cleanliness of a town centre, the contractor is required to make sure that the next time it is cleaned, it is done to a high standard.
Reporting other problems on your street
Links
- Encams - formerly the Keep Britain Tidy group
- Living Streets - a national campaign to encorage communities to get involved with improving local streets
- Capital Standards Network - a partnership programme involving local authorities plus government and independent organisations to improve local environmental quality
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