History of Waste Management

The following information was developed from a research project undertaken by City of Westminster Archives. You can find out more information on Westminster Archives by visiting their Web pages.

A History of Waste Management in Westminster

Westminster was first officially designated as a city in 1540 and since that time local officials have been dealing with the growing problem of waste and keeping the streets clean.

Before 1900 the parishes levied rates for the removal of dust and ashes by scavengers. In Paddington, the annual contract for dust removal began in 1824 and roads were regularly washed from 1836 onwards. The contract was awarded to the Grand Junction Canal company in 1845, but by 1888 a direct labour force was employed, using a wharf leased on the north side of the canal which continued to be used by Paddington Borough Council until 1965.

In 1904 Westminster City Council established a new Highways Department responsible for waste collection and street cleansing.

Depots

In 1910 Westminster City Council built a central disinfecting station, lock-keeper's house and Highways Department offices on the west side of Grosvenor Dock, the Gatliff Road Depot. The depot had 2 weigh-bridges recording every load of rubbish. Gatliff Road also included garage space for 165 different types of vehicles and stores for 2,800 different types of equipment.

Until 1935 refuse was taken by contractors to tips in outer London, but after 1935 it was taken by barge down the River Thames, 42 miles from the Central Cleansing and Tranport Depot at Gatliff Road, to Pitsea in Essex and used to reclaim marshland.

By 1950 the Refuse Handling Plant at Gatliff Road served not only the City of Westminster, but also the Boroughs of St Marylebone and Paddington. It processed 250 tons of refuse per day from Westminster and another 200-250 tons per day from the other two boroughs. By 1950 the composition of waste being processed has also changed. There was less ash from fires and more packaging and tin.

Contractors

Until 1912 domestic and trade waste was collected by contractors, but after 1912 the service was run by a direct labour force. By 1950 the Public Cleansing and Transport Department employed about 700 staff, including 93 drivers to collect refuse and over 200 street sweepers.

In October 1988 the refuse collection and street cleansing service worth £12 million per annum was privatised - a management buy-out by the newly formed MRS Environmental Services who employed (among others) 400 street sweepers. MRS held the Westminster contract from 1989 to 1995. Since September 1995 the contract has been held by Onyx UK. The current contract commenced with Onyx UK on 15th September 2003 providing Westminster's waste collection, street cleansing & recycling services. This contract is valued at some £32million per annum for a contract period of seven years. A new contract will be awarded in 2010 to a successful bidder.

Special Events

During Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953, City Council employees removed over 112 tonnes of litter from the streets - at last year's Golden Jubilee Onyx sweepers worked during the night removing a staggering 100 tonnes of litter including approximately 50,000 champagne bottles.

In the 1980s a number of high-profile schemes were initiated to improve the environment of Westminster including:

• Cleaner City Campaign in 1980-1982
• Action 86 in 1986
• Zone Improvement Patrol in 1988
• Westminster Initiative in April 1989 and the Citizens' Task Force
• Sponsorship of automatic street sweepers by Trusthouse Forte in 1986
• Pooper Scooter based on a Yamaha motorbike and imported from Paris for the removal of dog waste in 1987 (subsequently modified in 1989)
• New automatic high pressure street-washing vehicles pictured in the newspapers in 1989

In 1991 there were 12 high-tech street washers, 3 large high-tech street sweepers and 27 pavement vacuum cleaners. Environmental issues form a major part of the Civic Renewal programme which started in 2002.

Recycling

Recycling has been practised in Westminster since the 1920s. From 1939 there was routine salvage of metal, rags, string and bottles, but by 1950 it was chiefly paper and kitchen waste.

In 1942 WCC installed modern plant for sterilising and concentrating waste food for 10,000 pigs per year; this plant also served the boroughs of Paddington, Chelsea, Fulham, Hammersmith and Southwark.

In 1940 waste paper started to be baled and sold to paper mills; between 1940-1951 27,706 tons of waste paper were sent for recycling.

Bottle banks were introduced by 1981.

Recycling formed an important part of the Westminster Initiative introduced in 1989, leading to the supply of free compost bins and new Micro Recycling Centres. In 1991 there were 67 bottle banks on streets and glass was collected from 160 commercial buildings, kerb-side paper and plastic collections were made once a fortnight in many wards of Westminster. The can recycling scheme in Maida Vale and St John's Wood was the first in the country. In addition a One-Stop Recycling Centre was opened at North Wharf Road in Paddington for glass, paper, oil, cans and car batteries. This site was closed in 1996.

Since September 2003, recycling has received a major push and profile as a result of the recycling contract with Onyx and the 'Bin There Done That' campaign.

The doorstep recycling service covers more households and areas and residents can recycle paper, cardboard, glass bottles & jars, cans & tins and plastic bottles at the same time. There are over 100 Micro Recycling Centres located across Westminster. In addition new initiatives to tackle the street litter element of the household waste stream have been implemented including paper recycling litter bins and a street leaf composting project. Garden waste collections in some areas commenced in March 2004.

Public Conveniences

Public toilets were first built 150 years ago in the Victorian era (according to BBC web-site); for example, there are plans in the archives of St Margaret and St John Westminster for public toilets in Knightsbridge [probably 1890s] and the ones at Harrow Road/Edgware Road were opened in 1902.

French-style superloos which open automatically after 15 minutes were introduced in Leicester Square in 1982.

In 1984 WCC won the 'Golden Loo Award' from Twyfords Bathrooms of Stoke-on-Trent for its toilets in Covent Garden; the two attendants described by the competition organiser as "obviously very dedicated" used their own money and spare time to decorate the facilities with paintings and provide a £100 music system! - the award was subsequently stolen from its point of display.

The maintenance of public toilets was privatised along with street cleansing in 1988.

Westminster currently operates a network of 32 public conveniences with attendants throughout the City. Over the last 10 years there has been significant investment in these facilities, including the complete refurbishment of a large number of sites and minor works of improvement to many others. Two of the facilities in Leicester Square and Covent Garden are open 24 hours a day. There are also 12 Automatic Public Conveniences across the city with special keys for people with disabilities.

In addition to these facilities the service in 2002 implemented a packaged of new measures to deal with the problems of street urination. There are now 12 mobile urinals which go out on West End streets on Friday & Saturday nights, 2 fixed street urinals and 2 'telescopic' street urinals which are camouflaged under the pavement during the day, emerging from the ground during peak night time hours.