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CLEANSING SERVICE
Responsibility for day-to-day organisation and control of the Cleansing Services is delegated
by the Borough Engineer and Surveyor to the Cleansing Officer, who is assisted by a Deputy
and 17 junior officers.
The Services cover three main divisions of work:
Collection of household and trade refuse;
Street sweeping and removal of abandoned vehicles;
Public conveniences.
Guiding Principles.
In dealing with Public Cleansing the Council has adopted certain objectives which are:
Maximum Service to the Public.
Public Cleansing in general affects everyone and failure to achieve and maintain satisfactory
services can result in serious public health and amenity problems for the community.
The object of the Council is to build an overall service which can be relied upon at all times,
which is rendered satisfactorily to individual householders and traders, and the scope of which
covers all the needs of the citizens of the Borough. Some of these services, e.g., the removal of
unwanted motor vehicles, are relatively recent in origin. From the viewpoint of ratepayers, and
consistent with the foregoing, services must be designed to be as economical as possible.
Respect for Employees.
All forms of public cleansing work are basically unattractive, essential though they are.
Every effort has been made, therefore, as a matter of policy, to make the work as acceptable as
possible to the individual employee and to recognise and acknowledge the importance of his
work and, where practicable, to lighten his task by selection of right tools and equipment,
reduction in weight of bins, and mechanisation. Wherever possible, services are based on workstudied
methods and bonus incentive schemes applied.
Dustless Collection.
From public health and amenity points of view, it is regarded as essential that the transfer
of refuse from its source to point of disposal should be as dustless as possible. Such a policy
is clearly complementary to that of establishing smokeless, clean air zones; but it is admitted
that early methods of collection were often sources of offence and complaint to residents
and passers-by. The introduction of dustless collection has been retarded by difficulties
which have now been largely overcome, as described later.
Refuse Collection.
A total of 64,320 tons of refuse of all kinds was collected and dealt with in the Borough
during 1967/8, the service currently employing some 165 men and 46 vehicles at a net cost
estimated at £389,095 for the present financial year, this figure including £12,470 for the provision
of refuse bins and other improvements. As previously indicated, Work Study principles
have been applied and a bonus incentive scheme devised which, on completion of the set daily
task over each of the five days in the normal working week, yields an addition of 41% of the
basic wage, (at present £14.17.4. per week for a refuse collector). The men are allowed to go
home on completion of the day's task. Protective clothing, including boots, is provided and
facilities for changing and showers are available at the two main depots where the men report
for work and join the vehicles to which they are allocated. It has not yet been possible, since
the formation of the new London Borough in April, 1965, to provide the centralised facilities
which are needed to enable maximum efficiency to be achieved; but much has already been done
to provide a uniform service throughout the Borough.
Domestic Refuse from Smaller Properties
Refuse Bins.
Refuse is often accumulated by householders in a variety of containers ranging, despite
the provisions of the Public Health Act, from normal dustbins to cardboard boxes. In adopting the
principle of dustless loading of refuse, the Council quickly realised that it was advantageous to
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