to ask if this is a London thing?

[northernweather]

We live next to a house that is owned by a London HA. The house has its own storage for bin bags right next to the front door but neighbours who moved out last year used to just open their door and chuck their bin bags next to the doorstep. They also never used actual bin bags but multiple carrier bags and the bags would stay there all week until rubbish day (so 24/7).

They finally left (after a multitude of other issues I won't go into detail with) and new tenants moved in at the end of last year. They too ignore the bin storage, open their door and drop piles of blue carrier bags filled with rubbish next to their doorstep.

Is this something that is done in London?! I don't understand the logic - and if I am being honest am bit pissed off we are having to see a pile of food/nappy filled blue bags every single day again - but just pretty baffled?

Some London boroughs do not have wheelie bins, and yes you may well see bagged rubbish in those districts

But in communal places like complexes of flats, there should be designated places for them to be put, and one hopes a management that will remind occupants of standards. Just like anywhere else, really

It's just laziness & not caring, plus they can't be bothered buying proper binbags and just use the bags given out at the local shop.

I'm London too. If we did this the foxes/crows/badgers/rats /squirrels etc that are plentiful round here would have the bags open and the contents strewn down the road in about 20 minutes.

In my part of London we regularly chuck our bedpans out of the window.

I agree with @Confusedandshaken except the bit about badgers. Badgers? Are there badgers? Why haven’t I seen one? I’d absolutely love to.

I’ve never seen people chuck out rubbish bags into their doorstep.

@JorisBonson

In my part of London we regularly chuck our bedpans out of the window.

That's pretty shitty!

Our binmen don't take anything left in storage areas. Unless it's out on the street, whether in a wheelie bin or an additional bag, it goes nowhere.

Do they not have wheelie bins?

Using the carrier bags instead of more bin liners than necessary is vaguely eco conscious, otherwise they'd be using double (if not more) plastic. And it's cheaper than buying a big kitchen bin. The difference between them and people using carriers to line wastepaper bins is fairly minimal in that sense.

Some very central areas actually get twice daily collections with no bins - no space for them. Can you imagine? (I looked it up because I was curious..,)

@lurker101

Not a London thing, especially not with the amount of foxes we have! Most of my neighbours would know better, and any that didn’t soon would after seeing their trash all over the road after a pilfering fox 🦊

We have a neighbour, in London, who does put rubbish in plastic carrier bags, and presumably not into the wheelie bin because foxes do indeed rip it open and leave it all over our garden, along with their shit. The suspected neighbour has a bright security light in their garden, hence why they come into ours. Also suspected as it’s food from their home country (EU), but I haven’t enough knowledge of this practice to know if it’s country specific.

I've lived in posh parts of London & non posh bits & never seen that. I do find it odd that Londoners just leave bins permanently in their front garden when they have a side gate & back garden tho. You'd get a comments in the Midlands where I grew up if you did that.

Most London houses are terraces divided into flats so you’re supposed to put your black bin bags out only on collection day. Otherwise there would be 8 or 10 bins outside every building. You can tell where money lives, because people will spend four figures on a tasteful little treillage Wendy house for their bins.

Speak to your neighbours and tell them how the rules work where you are.

If they don’t comply, report them to the Housing Association and to the council. You don’t even need to be their neighbour - it’s a danger to public health.

A HA tenancy is a tenancy for life unless you antagonise the neighbours, so I’m wondering if they just haven’t been told the local rules.

In our part of London the rubbish is collected from the street in bags every evening. We're only meant to put the bags on the street between 8 and 9pm... But adherence to this isn't high
Not to say this is the issue here.

But frequent street collection and no wheelie bins certainly can be a London thing

I would knock on their door, take them to the bin and show them where to put their rubbish. Or pick up their rubbish and put it back outside their front door with a MN passive aggressive note on it?

Maybe they genuinely do not know? Possibly they don't want to touch the communal bin lid or bin handles for religious reasons? Possibly they are just lazy, filthy bastards.

You have had a lot of defensive answers here but when I lived in London, general anti social behaviour within housing communities was sadly prevalent. So I would say it's a London thing but them I'm a Northerner where we can all eat our dinner off our front steps.

Why don’t some areas have wheelie bins? We’ve had them since the late 80s I think. And before then the old style metal bins. Seems weird putting out bags.

Why don’t some areas have wheelie bins?
There's no space on the pavements, especially in the crowded (pre-covid) areas.

What the hell is a "London Thing" ? Have you any idea what size London is ???? Tell them its unacceptable !! Or is passive aggressive generalization a "Northern Thing" ?

I’m from Cornwall and we all put out bags - black sacks not blue ones but still I don’t think I’ve ever heard of bin storage and hardly any areas have wheelie bins here, so no it’s not just London.,

@THisbackwithavengeance

I would knock on their door, take them to the bin and show them where to put their rubbish. Or pick up their rubbish and put it back outside their front door with a MN passive aggressive note on it?

Maybe they genuinely do not know? Possibly they don't want to touch the communal bin lid or bin handles for religious reasons? Possibly they are just lazy, filthy bastards.

You have had a lot of defensive answers here but when I lived in London, general anti social behaviour within housing communities was sadly prevalent. So I would say it's a London thing but them I'm a Northerner where we can all eat our dinner off our front steps.

Thank you! I was worried it was going to turn into people calling me a troll I really did have good intentions with my question so glad you understand what I mean!

The thing is with the previous tenants I really tried and always really politely - even when I had to knock and ask them to clear up the visibly used nappy they had left next to their doorstep for days on end, even though they had to step over it to get anywhere and the only way we got results was to get the council involved. The HA were no help whatsoever, even when I sent them photos of the flytipping their tenants left when they moved out - no response!

So it's put me off even knocking with the new tenants, which I know is bad on my part, but I know I should just suck it up and give them a knock

I used to live in London zone 1 and yes you just left your black bags outside your door at night and they’d be collected. I think on our street they were supposed to be left by a particular tree but not many people knew that so they’d still be collected from outside your door.

Weird they’re doing that when you clearly have bins though.

In some areas in London like busy streets where there are flats above shops people put rubbish out in bags on the pavement. There are specific hours they are supposed to do this.
There is nowhere to store a wheelie bin usually. The access to the flat is a door on the main street with stairs leading up.
People who live on residential streets will have wheelie bins. Blocks of flats usually have a bin storage area with large bins.

I'm in zone 2 and it's once a week.

There's no place along the street for a wheelie bin. It's a row of terraced houses, all next to each other so there's nowhere for a wheelie bin to go. I can't have a bin outside my house as there are steps from my front door to the pavement and I can't put a bin on the pavement. I mostly recycle but when I put out rubbish, it's in a black sack. They won't collect carrier bags here.

We also have weekly recycling of cardboard/plastic and garden/food waste. We get free bags and bins for these but not for household rubbish.

Putting used nappies outside is absolutely disgusting.

I still don't understand what your issue is though - that you have to see their rubbish?

If it's a house next door then you aren't stepping over the rubbish and it's not on your property. As long as it stays in bags what is the actual issue?

I'd be worried about it attracting rats.

@Pizzaandgarlicdip

I used to live in London zone 1 and yes you just left your black bags outside your door at night and they’d be collected. I think on our street they were supposed to be left by a particular tree but not many people knew that so they’d still be collected from outside your door.

Weird they’re doing that when you clearly have bins though.

We have rubbish collection once a week every Tuesday, we all have a cupboard with a door built into the wall big enough for a few black sacks. It's really obvious as to what it is for, and people naturally put their sacks in front of it to be collected on the morning of rubbish collection.

Even if there wasn't a cupboard though I wouldn't just chuck them out the front door for everyone else to see, I'd keep them inside/in the back garden until bin day!

@ClaudiaWankleman

I still don't understand what your issue is though - that you have to see their rubbish?

If it's a house next door then you aren't stepping over the rubbish and it's not on your property. As long as it stays in bags what is the actual issue?

Yes absolutely! I don't want to see piles of rubbish 24/7 because someone can't be bothered to store them properly until rubbish day. I don't want to see food scraps and used nappies and sanitary products strewn across the floor because they are leaving their rubbish out 24/7 and it's getting ripped open, where there is a store cupboard 2 steps from their front door they could/should put it in instead of opening the front door and chucking it out. I do have to see the rubbish because of the layout of our street I have to walk past their house to get to mine and to/from my car.