Noise, Refuse and Pollution in Clifton

Maggie Shapland
For litter, rubbish, fly-tipping, graffiti, vandalism, street drinking, drug dealers etc- all anti-social behaviour, ring 0845 605 2222.
Please remember that you can report illegal activities such as drink driving, drug dealing and suspicious behaviour anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Refuse Collection

If you forget your collection day, call Customer services on 922 3838 and they will be able to tell you.
Weekly recycling and refuse Bank Holiday collections dates: Normal collections will resume on 14.01.08.
Residents that have kitchen waste collections will also benefit from being able to put out their real Christmas trees for collection (without the pots).
Cardboard packaging can be recycled by putting it out next to your kitchen waste bin, please remove polystyrene.

Persistant Offenders of Refuse on the streets

The damage to our 'street scene' continues, particularly due to abuse of the refuse system. To help members report persistent offenders to the Council, CHIS has produced a proforma which you can send off to the Council. In our experience the Council does try to respond to complaints but does not routinely inspect our streets- so reporting really is important.

Recycling Units in BS8

plastic bottles at Roo Bar, Clifton Down shopping centre, Whiteladies Road
plastic bottles, bottles, paper at Clifton Road near Post Office Sorting Office

Waste Disposal

Bristol has teamed up with three other unitary authorities to plan what to do with their waste disposal problem. The plan (encourages re-use and recycling) can be seen at http://www.rubbishorresource.co.uk

Needles

30 Oct 2006: At a recent Health & Safety event involving Safety Officers from different working environments, an Officer of Bristol City Council highlighted a problem that affects car parking facilities in central Bristol. It seems that users of illicit drugs have been sellotaping used hypodermic needles to the underside of handrails on the stairs of multi storey car parks. Needles have also been found concealed in hand towel and toilet paper dispensers. This practice is clearly intended to cause injury and possible infection to members of the public. Whilst not wishing to start any undue panic, it seems appropriate to advise people to be especially vigilant when using such facilities. There is no evidence of this practice happening anywhere other than car parks in central Bristol at present, but people are advised to have heightened awareness when using such facilities.

Dangers to your health in your period home

http://www.bricksandbrass.co.uk/diy/diydangr.htm is a very good resource describing DIY dangers (by element (eg roof, wall), room and material). It describes the dangers of :

lead in paint
anthrax in plaster (since it usually contains horsehair so could contain anthrax spores- before 1895)
asbestos (houses built between 1920 and 1980s)
electricity (gives current regulations)

and describes what to do.

Drains

Call 0117 922 3838 about

blocked and flooding road drains
materials tipped down a road drain
smelling road drain
personal items dropped down a road drain, for example keys (there is a charge for this service)

If there is a problem with a public sewer, contact Wessex Water on 08457 300 600

Refuse Collection

The Council collect waste and recycling on the same day
Only one bin of waste will be collected. The Council will not collect rubbish from second wheelie bins or any extra rubbish sacks. They will collect one wheelie bin of rubbish or equivalent, your black box and any extra recycling you have that is placed in untied carrier bags by the side of your box. If you do not have a wheelie bin, no more than three black plastic bags can be put out.
Residents must recycle as much as possible to ensure that they can fit all their waste in one bin
Extra recycling can be left at the side of the black box in untied plastic carrier bags
Tower blocks and some blocks of flats are not part of the black box kerbside collection scheme. These residents will be informed separately of any new arrangements.

Who is the Waste doctor?

Never recycled before and don't know how?
Not sure what you can and can't put in to your black box?
Worried that you won't be able to cope with one bin and would like some advice on how you can reduce the amount of rubbish you throw out each week?
Contact the Council on 922 3838 and they can arrange to have a Waste Doctor visit at your home. They can advise you on reducing rubbish and recycling more, and can give you information on a range of alternatives to just throwing everything in to a landfill.

Five steps to recycling

One - get your black box - call 903 1221 or e-mail recycling@bristol.gov.uk
Two - learn what goes in it and put it there (see below)
Three - look at excess packaging on products in the supermarket. If it's got too much, don't buy it!
Four - consider composting your garden waste and kitchen scraps. Compost bins can be ordered on-line - www.bristol.gov.uk/recycling or call 903 1221 for an order form.
Five - recycle furniture by sending it to charities. The Sofa Project (954 3567), Emmaus (954 0886), Sue Ryder (924 4910) or SPACE (955 5755) may be able to collect them for free, for a good cause.

If you have any ideas about how to improve the cleanliness of your area, telephone (0117) 922 3838.

The SOFA Project collects for free, unwanted furniture and electrical appliances (0117) 954 3567.

Household waste (not commercial) can be taken to Days Road, St Phillip's (off Folly Lane) and Kingsweston Lane, Avonmouth
8am-4:15pm Monday to Friday
8am-3:45pm Saturdays and bank holidays
9am-12:45pm Sundays

Black Box Kerbside collections

Bristol City Council now collect glass bottles and jars, newspapers and magazines, food and drink cans, textiles, household and car batteries, aluminium foil, used engine oil, spectacles and pairs of shoes.

They do not collect plastic or cardboard.
Put your box out for the collectors by 7am on collection day.
Write your house number on your box to identify it.
Keep your box in a safe place
If you move house, leave the box behind for the next occupant.
For details of the Black Box scheme & collections dates, phone the Black Box Helpline 0117 903 1221.

The Council Pollution Control Team

Aims to tackle noise, land, air and water pollution to make a safe, clean and healthy environment.
Officers working evenings and nights often respond to noise problems eg. noisy parties and other loud music, continuously sounding house and vehicle alarms.
The team also

gives advice to planners on the noise/air/land pollution impacts of planning applications.
gives advice to the Licensing and Central Services manager on potential noise problems arising from over 200 Public Entertainment Licence applications per year.
inspects and assesses around 90 authorised air polluting industrial processes around the city, to ensure they comply with emission standards.
has a strong enforcement role and last year served around 350 statutory notices. Where notices are not complied with, the team will exercise its default power resulting in de-activation of vehicle and premises alarms and the seizure of noise-making equipment. Where appropriate, the team will also prosecute for breaches of notices.

Contact them on
0117 922 3810 - Mondays to Thurdays 0830 - 1700 and on Fridays 0830 - 1600
0117 922 2050 - Out of normal office hours. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday 7:30pm-midnight, Wednesday and Thursday 7:30pm-1am, Friday and Saturday 7pm-3:30am

Cleaner Street Scene in Sight

The unsightly bins in Victoria Square (by St Andrews entrance). RoseMary Musgrave had asked the advice of Garry Reeder to see if a suitable screen could be erected when the fountain is repaired. Sharon Baker had met with Trudy Feeney and Alan Cox of Bristol City Council on site in May to see if the bins could be resited in Richmond Terrace. It became apparent that relocation is not an option. It was agreed that screening the bins so that they are not so apparent when viewed from the Victoria Square area was a strong possibility. Trudy will get back to CHIS with some options and costings.

Tough new rules were introduced in 2005 to remove unsightly rubbish from outside shops, restaurants and business premises in Bristol city centre. People walking along some of the city's most popular shopping streets often have to avoid piles of black rubbish bags and bins awaiting collection. Park Street, in particular, is frequently littered with waste put out by shopkeepers. Traders will only be allowed to put out their rubbish during two-hour periods in the morning and at night.

The move is one of a package of measures to clean up the city's street scene, under the Clean and Green initiative, which is supported by the Evening Post. Talks are expected to be held with waste management firms over time slots for rubbish collection. Cabinet Councillor Richard Eddy, who approved the move, said: "This should put an end to the appalling scenes that we see in the city centre at the moment. "It's not just a question of litter but also hygiene."

The two-hour slots would be 7am to 9am and 6pm to 8pm. Traders, restaurants and fast food outlets would be issued with fixed penalty notices if they failed to comply with the new regulations. Persistent offenders could be taken to court and fined a maximum of £2,500.

Other street clean-up measures include:

Flyposting - Setting up official flyposting sites where promoters could advertise events.
A zero-tolerance policy (the picture is from Royal York Crescent) would be adopted where flyposters were put up illegally. This means that council workers would rip down the flyposters and the promoters would be billed for the work. Flyposters on posts (particularly round the Students Union) vanish overnight which shows the Council is doing their job, whereas flyposters on boards are harder to deal with. Councillor Eddy said this "carrot and stick" approach was favoured because the positive response from the industry and meant that his proposal of putting "cancelled" stickers over flyposters was unlikely to go ahead.
CHIS has long set an example by removing fly posters quite legally. Members are encouraged to do the same.
Domestic waste - a stricter policy over wheelie bins and rubbish removal from outside people's homes. The council want to discourage people leaving their bins on the pavements outside their homes. But Councillor Eddy recognised that people's efforts to get rid of their waste should not be hindered. He told council officials to draw up a report on the practicalities of introducing new domestic waste measures.
Advertising A-boards - These are the fold-up boards which traders put out on the street to advertise their business or product. But they can often be a menace to pedestrians, especially partially-sighted people. The aim is to introduce new guidelines which will regulate the use of these boards.

Useful links

BBC web page on Anti-Social behaviour
Network of Residents' Association (includes section on anti-social behaviour)
Bristol City Council Rubbish and Cleansing information (frames can take some navigating! may be easier to use index).
Bristol City Council My Neighbourhood information Community safety; Begging campaign; Cleaning our streets; Pest control; Dog wardens services; Pollution control; Gypsies and travellers; Abandoned Vehicle on-line reporting; Street Light Faults on-line reporting
Avon and Somerset Police website Neighbourhood Watch for North Bristol Area Administrator - Wendy Hull, Southmead Police Station, Southmead, Bristol BS10 5DW. Tel: 0117 945 4545
Clifton Online
for details of dates of collection

Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society (CHIS)