Residents left scratching their heads after 1,000 litter bins mysteriously disappear

By Tara O’Connor, local democracy reporter

Residents have been left scratching their heads as campaigners claim 1,000 litter bins have mysteriously disappeared from Croydon.

The campaigners claim Croydon Council has removed the bins as part of a “large scale cost-cutting” exercise.

Litter Free Norbury has been campaigning for more bins in the area after realising that dozens of bins in the area had gone missing over the last 18 months.

The group believes the old style plastic bins have been removed and replaced with fewer ‘Big Belly’ bins which compact rubbish. They claim this has lead to more litter in the streets.

Campaigner Tony Hooker has lived in Norbury for 18 years and noticed a bin outside his house vanished four or five times before being replaced some time later. His front garden would then see litter thrown into it on a regular basis.

But the 53-year-old reported it to the council. He claims he was told it had been stolen. After a year of back and forth, the bin was replaced in May.

Around 18 months ago, he started to do his own research into the mystery disappearances after noticing other missing bins in the Norbury area.

Mr Hooker said: “I have identified over 60 locations in the Norbury area alone that have had bins removed over the last few years, with the last few plastic bins having been removed during 2020.”

Croydon Council has disputed this and claims the authority will put in more bins in Norbury. But Mr Hooker is unconvinced and claims this is a borough-wide problem.

He used a map of where bins in the borough are supposed to be and compared this with Google Maps and his own photographs which he claims shows bins in Croydon have reduced from 1,500 to 500.

The issue has previously been highlighted in Crystal Palace when more than 100 people signed a petition after bins in the town centre repeatedly went missing.

Litter Free Norbury held a June walkabout with local councillors to raise concerns about a lack of cleanliness in the streets.

The group was founded earlier this year by Mr Hooker, Sujay Jayaram and Guillaume Raillard who regularly take to the streets to pick up litter themselves.

They say that when bins are removed it leads to people dropping more rubbish in the streets making the area look unkempt.

Mr Hooker said: “At the walkabout I highlighted where bins used to exist, and presented a proposal for a decent bin infrastructure.”

He says that after writing to the council it has “thrown us a bone” saying it will reinstate a few bins in the area.

“I firmly believe the council have been undertaking a large scale cost-cutting [exercise] over the last few years by removing the bins to save on costs of emptying,” said the campaigner.

A Croydon Council spokesperson said: “The council has not removed any bins, in fact we are in the process of increasing numbers in the Norbury area in the next few weeks.”

But in an exchange with the campaign group on Twitter, Councillor Stuart Collins, the former cabinet member for Clean, Green Croydon, seemed to admit that extra bins have been removed.

He was a cabinet member until October 2020, and on August 3, he wrote: “Croydon Council has always removed open bins when big belly bins are put in as they were in Norbury, [the council is] looking to see if you need extra big belly bins.

“It isn’t financially sustainable to have and empty thousands of street bins, people need to change behaviours, take it home if ours are full.”

Pictured: Tony Hooker and Guillaume Raillard from the Litter Free Norbury group.