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55
The house refuse bin is intended to receive only ordinary house
refuse, mostly ashes from fires and kitchen waste. Special arrangements
have to be made if the householder wishes to have garden waste collected
and disposed of. Apart from garden waste though and outside what
is ordinarily disposed of as house refuse are articles which the householders
at times have to dispose of and which cannot be put into the
refuse bin. At one time the Public Health Committee was so concerned
about the unsightliness and the risk of nuisance from accumulation of
such materials as bicycle tyres, perambulators or bedsteads dumped in
waste parcels of land that they suggested ft was in the interests of the
Council as a health authority to interpret generously the definition of
house refuse so that such articles would be collected and disposed of in
the same way as ordinary house refuse.
Trade refuse as distinct from house refuse is not collected free of
charge by the Council. The following are the charges made for collection
and disposal:
For each of the first two bins collected
each week (after one free bin per
week) £3 3 0 per bin per annum
For each bin in excess of three each
week £111 6 per bin per annum
For casual collection of bin (in
addition to the free bin) 1s. Od. per bin
The Food Hygiene Advisory Council asked whether in the interests
of food hygiene trade refuse from food shops could not be collected
free of charge. It would seem, however, that a local authority has no
power to grant such a concession.
Dust bins are provided at houses by the owners and usually are
replaced by them when necessary. Sometimes the existing bin is unsuitable
and it is considered it should be replaced. When it was not
provided, up to recently the owner in most cases was asked to provide
the new bin, and court proceedings would be taken against him in default.
A Court's decision a few years ago though created difficulties as it seemed
that the question of whether a new bin should be provided by the owner
or by the tenant should be decided by the Court. From that time the
Committee in deciding whether the owner or tenant should be served
with the notice has had regard to the same factors as would be taken
into account by the Court, these including such points as the rent payable
and the amount of recent expenditure incurred by the owner in maintaining
his property. The position is now made easier by the Middlesex
County Council Act, 1950, under which when a person on whom the
notice to provide a dust bin is served, the appellant shall serve a copy
of his notice to appeal on the other, and the Court might make such order
as it thinks fit with regard to the compliance of the notice either by the
appellant or by the other person.
Section 75 of the Public Health Act, 1936, enables a local authority
to provide or maintain dust bins for the reception of house refuse. At
that time the annual charge that could be made was limited to 2s. 6d.;