So says the Daily Mail today (also covered in The Metro, The Telegraph, BBC online and local news sources):

Residents could be forced to put out their bins at 5am or face a fine in trials to keep streets tidy

This has caused a massive online and press backlash – people have objected to the idea of forcing residents to have to get up to leave their bins out.

But the story isn’t quite as straightforward as it at first appears. The Council has made life difficult for itself with this press release, which states that a trial of “Time banding” will be introduced in certain parts of the borough:

Businesses and residents can only leave their waste sacks on the public highway between 5am to 6am and 5pm to 6pm.

This made us think – the vast majority of residents aren’t allowed to leave their rubbish and recycling on the “public highway” (ie the pavement) at all.

A small number of residents “with no outside space to store their waste” are given purple and blue bags for their rubbish and recycling – and this scheme only applies to a set number of roads. Most people are expressly prohibited from leaving their waste on the pavement, and might even be fined if they did.

Equally businesses have a similar scheme of Council sacks that they leave on the pavement. Indeed a Council FAQ page makes it clear that the Time Banding trial does “not apply if your waste is collected from inside the boundary of your property” – ie most residents!

Sadly, the press release is unclear and the press hasn’t picked up this subtlety – and is reporting in a way that implies everyone would be affected.

It remains to be seen whether the Time Banding scheme, affecting businesses and those residents that use the Council waste sack scheme, is a good thing – but the facts need to be out in the open first!

Let them know what you think about the Time Banding scheme by emailing [email protected] (and tell us what you think too).

Update: Local journalist James Cracknell reports that Merton Council has said the trial will affect 116 flats, as well as local businesses.

Update II: The Council is holding a a road show at Wimbledon Piazza (Outside Morrison’s), The Broadway, Wimbledon on Tuesday 5 Feb 2013 between 7:30am and 11am (surely they should hold it between 5am-6am and 5pm and 6pm!).

Update III: We have has fed back to the Council after being contacted by residents worried about how this scheme affects them. We asked:

• What research and consultation was done with affected residents to choose the time bands that worked for them?
• Why is a one hour time band used? Neighbouring Wandsworth has two hour bands in the morning and evening (this might mitigate some of the worst effects on residents);
• Why residential and commercial properties were being treated the same? It appears that because only a relatively small number of residents are affected that their needs are being ignored.