A Somerset housing trust set up a free rubbish collection service for low-income tenants
Rubbish pile-ups can be a massive problem, particularly around council estates. Council-run collection services for large items such as abandoned furniture and fixtures can be costly and unfair for low-income tenants. Not only is it unpleasant and unhygienic for those residents who are forced to live near these accumulating dump sites, but it's also a health risk.

We set up a one-day pilot scheme to remove large items of rubbish from tenants' houses at no extra cost to themselves.

The idea came about after tenants complained that the present council-run service charged people for every four items removed. It was felt that this was unfair to people on low incomes, so we decided to try out a free service for them.

We chose three estates around Bath and north-east Somerset where rubbish was a problem.

We leafleted tenants on those estates to let them know about the forthcoming rubbish collection.

We picked specific collection points around the estates where there was a lot of surrounding space and we put up signs so that everyone knew where things would be collected from and the collection times. We highlighted what people could take out and what they couldn't – things like solvents, paints and asbestos –

and we also linked up with a local furniture charity, so that if any tenants had old furniture they wanted to get rid of, this charity could take it, fix it up and sell it on.

Overall, the pilot turned out to be a great success, with 45 tonnes of rubbish collected. Most of the 200 people who took part stuck to the rules. It cost us about £1000 for the day. This includes the cost of photocopying leaflets to publicise the event and hiring a contractor to put them up for us.

There was also the cost of the van to take all the rubbish away. The van cost about £120 to hire for the day, which wasn't bad.

We're now in discussions with the local authority to see if we can do something like this on a more regular basis because there seems to be a demand for it.