New Merton Waste Contractors Apologise For Street Litter Problems

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New contract has been a "challenging transition" says Veolia

Waste contractors Veolia have published an apology for the "worrying" levels of litter in parts of Merton since they took over the work from the borough council in April 2017.

There have been hundreds of complaints on Twitter, using the hashtag #muckymerton about litter in the streets across the borough, including Wimbledon.

Veolia said taking on the new contract was a “challenging transition” involving staff changes, new vehicles and a different “collecting methodology” in their street cleaning services.

It said in a statement: “We are sorry for how this process of change has affected certain parts of the borough. The cleanliness of Merton is our priority and we are committed to making immediate improvements to specific areas in the Borough that have been identified.

“On behalf of the teams in Veolia, we want to thank you for your patience and understanding. We have so far made improvements with additional sweeping resources and we have increased the number of vehicles to collect flytipping which has helped solve this growing issue.

“We will continue to work with the London Borough of Merton and its residents to improve our performance levels to reflect your civic pride and our overall aims for a clean, tidy and safe borough.

“If you spot any litter or flytipping, please report it online and we will highlight it to our teams. Thank you again for your patience and understanding.”

Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Alambritis added: "Veolia have published an apology, which acknowledges worrying litter levels in some parts of Merton.

“Joining neighbouring boroughs in the South London Waste Partnership, with all of us using Veolia, will reduce overheads and save millions of pounds that can be spent on things we can all enjoy, like libraries or parks or leisure facilities. But we should still expect a reasonable level of service – especially as it is so vital to everyone’s everyday lives.

"With so much of the litter on our streets caused by black bags being ripped open, the introduction of wheelie bins later this year should improve matters. Of course, it is not Veolia who drop the remaining litter. The people who do must take their share of responsibility – and if we catch them we will fine them. But it’s helpful to have this assurance from Veolia that they will be working flat out to give Merton residents the service we deserve."

• The London Borough of Merton is part of the South London Waste Partnership which is made up of four London Boroughs (Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton).

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March 16, 2018