Welcome to the February edition of the Climate Action Newsletter! In this edition, we have some really important news to share.
From Monday 24 March 2025, black wheelie bin (refuse) collections will change from weekly to fortnightly for all residents living in kerbside properties.
The changes to our service also mean a minority of households - roughly 17 per cent of kerbside properties in the borough - will see a change to their current collection day. These changes will not affect properties which have communal bins.
We are writing to kerbside properties with full details, but in the meantime please do have a look at the info below, where you'll find full details and FAQs around the changes to collections.
85 per cent of all Waltham Forest's current household waste could have been recycled, by using the appropriate bin - food caddy for food waste, brown bin for garden waste and the green bin for all other recycling. This will help us work towards cutting black bin waste down to a bare minimum
Since the introduction of separate weekly food waste recycling in autumn 2024, we’ve been regularly collecting around a 100 tonnes per week, over 2,000 tonnes in total. That's the equivalent to 13 adult male blue whales.
With green bin and food waste recycling collections taking place weekly, these changes will help ensure we continue to drive up recycling rates and together, help us achieve our ambitious targets for a greener borough.
Read on for more details, and get up to date with everything else going on our our borough!
All the best,
Clyde
Cllr Clyde Loakes MBE, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate and Air Quality
What do changes to black bin collections mean for you?
From next month, black bin collections will be changing in Waltham Forest. If you live in a kerbside property, your black bin will be collected once every two weeks, instead of every week.
Depending on your postcode, this new system will take commence on either the week beginning Monday 24 March, or the week beginning Monday 31 March. If you live in a block of flats or a property where you use communal bins, your residual waste will continue to be collected every week.
Green recycling bins and food waste caddies will continue to be collected every week. Brown garden waste bins will continue to be collected every fortnight as usual.
We've also prepared some FAQs to help with any queries residents may have, particularly focusing on concerns around fly-tipping, large households and medical waste.
In Waltham Forest, we have improved recycling rates and worked to make it as easy as possible to recycle a wide range of materials, so the need to use black bins has been significantly reduced.
Weekly food waste recycling for kerbside properties was introduced in September and we are now collecting around 100 tonnes of food waste per week. We have also now rolled out separate weekly food recycling collections to around 70% of our communal residential properties (those who share bins) and are looking to conclude that roll out by the late spring.
Our Library of Things enables residents to borrow items for one-time use, and our Reuse and Recycling Centres help to bring life back to items like household DIY materials, bicycles, furniture and paint, as well as recycling more difficult items like carpets, mattresses and polystyrene.
This means if you are using your recycling options and correctly using your black wheelie bin, you'll be only creating a minimum amount of household waste, which will be collected fortnightly from March. Our recycling A to Z is the place to go to help you get the most out of your recycling collections.
It's London Repair Week from 3 March and we are celebrating with a range of fun activities and events. They are all designed to help people gain repair skills, make the most of pre-loved stuff, save some cash, and of course help our planet.
Residents are invited to our Reuse and Repair Walking Tour on Saturday 9 March (from 10.45am), a whistlestop circuit of the workplaces of repair, reuse and sustainability specialists in our borough.
You'll get a first-hand look at their skills, techniques and purpose in action!
Each route includes two or three extended visits to workplaces where you will be introduced to everything from upholstery repairs and zero waste, to urban composting and bamboo bicycle construction. They'll also be some pop-ins to sustainability initiatives and even a hands-on workshop on one of the tours.
Still time to apply for the Community Walking and Cycling Fund
The Community Walking and Cycling Fund will be closing for applications soon – you have until Monday 10 March to apply!
The fund is for community and voluntary sector organisations who want to run projects aimed at helping more people to walk or cycle. Previous recipients have run guided cycle rides for families, nature walks for people who have been through cancer treatment, cycle maintenance courses, walk and talk sessions for older people – and more.
You might have noticed posters advertising the 'Bring It' campaign in your local area.
This is a new initiative in partnership with the North London Waste Authority (NLWA), encouraging people to avoid using single-use plastic and we want residents to get involved!
You can help by bringing reusable water bottles, coffee cups, tote bags and food containers out when heading out to work, the shops or to meet friends.
By cutting out single use plastic when shopping you can save the equivalent carbon emissions of a180 mile journey every year!
We’re clamping down on fly-tipping and patrolling the borough seven days a week, clearing fly-tipping, catching offenders and issuing penalties.
On average, we issue 800 fixed penalty notices every month and give £750 fines for people who fly-tip.
If you fly-tip, we will find you and you will be fined. We have a range of free options to help you dispose of your waste properly to keep our borough clean for everyone.
Our annual Tree Giveaway took place earlier this month, with almost a thousand young saplings of eight different tree species being given away to residents for planting in their gardens.
The remaining whips - as young saplings are known - have been given to local volunteer and Friends Groups for planting for local green spaces.
The Great Tree Giveaway is part of the Council’s ambitious climate action programme. The young deciduous trees will hopefully help the local environment over the coming years and decades as they grow and start to provide habitats and food sources for all manner of insects, birds, and mammals, create improved and greater canopy cover, and help to absorb harmful emissions from the air we breathe.
A wood fire may seem pleasant and cosy, but these these fires release small particles which can stay in the air and cause health problems such as strokes, asthma, dementia and lung cancer. This is why the Council is backing a London-wide campaign asking people to think again about having wood burners and open fires.
Domestic wood burning is thought to contribute to avoidable deaths linked to air pollution every year, so please avoid wood burners and fires. It is all about working together to help improve the air quality, tackle the climate crisis and work towards a net-zero our borough in the future.
Plotting a spring clean in the coming weeks? You can dispose of up to 27 types of household waste and materials free of charge at the borough's Reuse and Recycling Centres.
Planning a trip is the perfect way to help you declutter whether you are having a clear out, doing a spot of DIY or refreshing your home. Follow the link below for full details of your nearest centre.
You can now recycle blister packs - the packaging that your tablets and painkillers come in - at three libraries in the borough.
Blister packs are very difficult to recycle as they comprise of a complex mixture of plastic and foil, as well as traces of medicine.
But we are working to ensure that recycling options are available wherever possible, and you can drop off your empty blister packs at the following locations:
Leytonstone Library (Ground Floor)
Walthamstow Library (Ground Floor)
Chingford Library (Ground Floor)
✅ DO drop off any brand of tablet or capsule strips into the box. Make sure they are empty.
❌PLEASE DON'T drop off bags, boxes, leaflets, bottles, tubes, inhalers, syringes, or actual medication in these deposit boxes as this will cause contamination.
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