 
In 2020 central government wanted to welcome residents back to high streets after the first wave of the COVID 19 pandemic and offered funding to local authorities to enhance local areas. In Redbridge, part of this funding provided fantastic floral displays to add cheerful colour and habitats for nature. The original funding will expire soon, and we’re asking local businesses and community groups to keep the planters and baskets across the borough blooming. If you’ve enjoyed the colour and life these planters have brought to our high streets, and are interested in sponsoring or adopting these planters please get in touch.
Our Muslim colleagues have put together some top tips for a low waste Ramadan.
Putting Ramadan decorations up? Why not make decorations from materials you already have at home, like cardboard.
Try a 30-day count down calendar reusing envelopes; get the family to decorate them and fill with personal messages and tasks.
If you do need to buy, try and choose decorations that you can reuse next year or recycle.
Prepping for iftars? Make a meal plan, check what you have at home and take a shopping list. Use leftover meat/chicken and veg to make soup, stir frys, biryani or spring rolls.
It's normal to feel hungrier when fasting, so keep an eye on your portions, have tupperware on hand for anything that you're not going to use immediately.
And lastly, try using crockery rather than disposables and spend time washing up together at iftar time.
Got any other top tips, send us an email and let us know. We'd love to hear them.
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Aldersbrook Primary School students have been championing active travel as part of a special event marking the school’s participation in the Redbridge School Streets Programme.
During the event pupils gave presentations about the benefits of active travel. Awards were also given to those who took part in cycling and scooting to school on the day.
Under 'Redbridge School Streets', vehicles are restricted from entering Aldersbrook School’s school street zone and going past the school during school start and finish times. The scheme aims to reduce traffic and air pollution to create a safer and healthier journey for children, as well as encouraging more active travel to school.
Find out more about Redbridge School Streets on our website.
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Cardboard is easy peasy - cardboard can just be flattened and recycled. If you’ve got glittery cards, pop the glitter half in the bin and recycle the rest!
Scrunch test your foil - If your Easter egg foil (or any other foil for that matter!) scrunches and doesn’t spring back, you can recycle it. Make sure it's clean by shaking it off or dipping it in the last of your washing up suds.
Get composting – Planning a roast with friends or family? Vegetable peelings, egg shells, fruit skins and cores can all be composted at home. We have more information on our website to help you get started.
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Look out for plastic packaging free eggs which have become more widely available to reduce waste.
If you're looking for an alternative gift why not take a loved one for a picnic in a local park as a spring time treat or join in one of the fabulous events run by our Nature Conservation Team in the borough's special green spaces.
 Don’t forget to check your dates for rubbish collection over the Easter break as there will be a change to your usual day. Stay up-to-date by checking out our website.
We’ve stepped up our fight against fly-tipping with the launch of Redbridge Wall of Shame - a new microsite dedicated to identifying people caught on camera dumping rubbish on our streets.
In a bid to clampdown on the lawbreakers and discourage fly-tipping the ‘Wall of Shame’ invites residents to identify the offenders in the featured footage to help keep Redbridge clean and tidy.
Featuring on the site this month are two men shamelessly dumping a mattress, bags and waste in Ilford Lane, a man fly-tipping a bag next to a street litter bin in Ley Street, a woman dumping bags along a wall in Baxter Road, two further fly tips by a man and woman both dumping bags beside a communication box in Henley Road, and a man caught spraying graffiti on a wall in Bernards Close.
Head to our Wall of Shame to find out more and report anyone you recognise in the footage. https://wallofshame.redbridge.gov.uk/
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Our free Green Garden Waste collections will resume again from April 4, but if you’ve gathered lots of garden waste and want to get rid of it before then, you can always take it to the Chigwell Road Reuse and Recycling Centre.
Please bear with our crews as they start collecting next week as you’ve all been very busy in your gardens and there is lots of green garden waste to collect. If our crews can’t collect it all the first time, they’ll catch up on further rounds. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
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At the beginning of March we hosted a Repair Café at the Parkhill Community Centre in partnership with the East London Waste Authority (ELWA).
Services on sewing, electrical know how and bicycle repairs were available to everyone who popped in, for free!
Attendees and repairers shared tips on dressmaking and repairing while some clever stitching was done to repair clothes that may otherwise have been thrown away, like this coat which was brought in with a torn pocket. Just five minutes with a needle and thread resolved the issue. No need to get a new coat just yet!
A great day for sharing knowledge and simple money saving ideas to help reduce waste and to repair and recycle what we already have. Missed out on all the fun? Not to worry, Transition Town Ilford host a regular repair café at Redbridge Central Library every other Saturday between 2pm and 3:45pm. The next repair café dates are Saturday 9 and Saturday 23 April. The event is free, you can just turn up.
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There will be some temporary fencing work taking place from Monday 28 March at Barkingside Cemetery and Barkingside Garden of Rest on Longwood Gardens. We will be replacing the metal railed fencing that borders both sites as the existing one is now deteriorating.
Works will include removal of the existing railings and in some sections parts of the wall, and is expected to take approximately 8 weeks to complete. Whilst these essential works are taking place, it may be necessary to close a section of the footpath on Longwood Gardens for a period of time.
Both the cemetery and the Garden of Rest will continue to be open to visitors during the works, but some disturbance may be experienced.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused during this period.
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