Residents of Merton were told this week that new wheelie bins will mean less rubbish on the streets.

Merton Council and bin provider Veolia were taken to task by residents at a Wimbledon Community Forum meeting on Wednesday (June 20) who said they were sceptical the changes would help.  

In October a new collection system is set to be rolled out in the borough.

Two wheelie bins will be issued for each household; one for general waste, the other for paper and card, plus a food waste bin and a box for plastics.

Food waste will be collected each week with other waste and recycling collected fortnightly on alternate weeks.

The plans were approved by the council back in 2016 and in April 2017 Veolia won the contract to provide services for the South London Waste Partnership which also covers Croydon, Sutton and Kingston.

At the meeting this week residents expressed their frustrations about rubbish on the street and overflowing public bins.

Household rubbish is currently left out in bin bags which are sometimes ripped open by foxes.

Jeremy Gibson from Merton Council said the introduction of wheelie bins and a  new collection timetable will be cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

“It is cleaner because fewer bags are left on the pavement overnight,” he said. 

But one woman, a Merton resident of 32 years, said she is ‘embarrassed and depressed’ about rubbish on the streets of the borough.

“Why has it got so bad?” she said.

“There was a dramatic increase in mess when Veolia took over.

“I used to love living in Merton and now I feel like moving away from my home.

“It has got so bad and I don’t see how it is going to get better unless every man, woman and child comes out for one or two weeks to clean up [the streets].

“How is our borough going to get clean again?”

Will Graham, who was at the meeting on behalf of Veolia, promised that the new collections would help the problem.

He said: “The streets will be cleaner after switching to container bins. I guarantee that the new collection will help.”

Some people were concerned that a small box for plastic recycling would not be sufficient and lead to people just putting the waste in their normal bins.

Mr Gibson said after the first few weeks residents would be able to request an extra box or a smaller wheelie bin if they were not filling it each fortnight.

He added: “I envisage that in five years time there won’t be the amount of mixed plastic as there is now.

“I know this isn’t five years in the future but we are working towards a society where there is less recycling.”