Many streets in Cambridge have narrow pavements with barely enough room to walk down. This problem is made worse when residents leave bins out after collection or other obstructions such as excess waste out on the pavement.
We ask all residents to put their bins out for collection no earlier than 6pm the night before collection and by no later than 7am on the day of collection.
We then ask residents to remove their bins from the pavement by midnight on the day of collection.
Why should you remove your bin from the street?
Bins on streets can lead to:
- obstruction of pavements
- increased litter
- dumping in your own bins
- dumping on the street
- anti-social behaviour
- your bins being stolen
Help and enforcement
The City Rangers are always on the lookout for bins left out after collection and will continue to tackle the problem across the city.
The council has a duty to collect rubbish from households in the city, but only if that rubbish is placed out for collection in the way that is specified.
Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 enables us to specify how residents put rubbish out for collection. This includes the type of containers, number of containers and where these containers will be collected from.
So what happens now?
The first step is for the City Rangers to determine whether the household in question has the right bins and boxes. Those properties with no off-street storage for bins can have white sack collections as an alternative to bins, which reduces the storage space needed. This means that bins are not left out after the rubbish has been collected.
Once residents have been visited by City Rangers and given advice on managing their rubbish we hope that we will see a cleaner, safer, greener city as a result.
For those residents who persistently leave rubbish or bins out on the street, or contaminate their green bin, we can serve a statutory notice under Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Any future breach of this notice could lead to a fixed penalty notice or prosecution in the magistrates court.
Contact details
Enforcement (Streets and Open Spaces)
PO BOX 336
Cambridge CB1 2WSTel 01223 458573