Wandsworth Council is putting two more jet-washing crews on its high streets, and sweeping some busy streets every day instead of twice a week.
It will cost £767,000 a year and the council is paying for it by scrapping the two free bulky waste collections every household has had since January 2025, replacing them with a £30 charge.
It’s a trade-off and the end of a service that 31,897 households have used. From a date the council has not yet announced, getting rid of an old sofa, mattress or fridge will cost £30, and the number of daily collection slots will be cut from 200 to 100.
The free service is going
The council’s own report to tonight’s meeting of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee says the free collections cost more than £1 million a year, well above what was budgeted.
The rationale for the scheme was that it would cut fly-tipping because people would simply contact the council rather than dump their stuff on the street but, according to the papers, that theory “cannot be evidenced”. While fewer fly-tips were reported, the amount of dumped waste collected each month actually rose, by 35 to 65 extra tonnes in 2025. Labour’s manifesto for May’s election claimed a 20% cut in fly-tipping but we have not been able to find any evidence of it being true and this latest paper appears to point in the opposite direction.
The report also says it is “likely” the free scheme was subsidising residents, and landlords, who would otherwise have paid for the service themselves.
At £30, the new charge is still lower than the council says four other London boroughs charge, from £36 in Westminster to £51 in Hammersmith and Fulham.
What else is in the package
Alongside the jet-washing and sweeping, the £767,000 pays for fly-tipping stencils to warn offenders in hotspots, a trial of fox-proof food caddies for streets near the commons, AI bin scanners to spot which household’s recycling is contaminated, three new monitoring and enforcement posts, and a second Assistant Director on £120,000 a year.
The washing and sweeping will be done by the council’s street cleaning contractor, Krinkels. With the extra crews, most high streets and town centres will be washed four to five times a year. The report says dirty pavements are the service’s most common complaint.
“We’re dedicated to getting the basics right,” said Councillor Ethan Brooks, the council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, in the council’s 17 September announcement.
“Residents want clean streets, well-maintained neighbourhoods and visible action when issues are reported.”
He added: “We’re being honest about the fact that there is still work to do and we’re having to make some tough decisions.”
The background
The free collections began in January 2025, when the council also raised daily slots from 35 to 200. That October it promoted them, alongside a Cleaner Borough Plan promising more jet washing and sweeping, at a council drop-in in Putney.
Labour’s manifesto in May promised to “double street cleaning on residential roads”, with “at least two sweeps a week”. This package does not mention residential roads: the extra sweeping is for selected high-footfall streets.
The new posts follow the bin collection crisis that began when Serco’s contract started in June 2024. Missed collections hit nearly three times the council’s target, and it took until autumn 2025, and five new monitoring officers, to get them back on target. The council issued no formal warnings or breach notices.
The change comes as the council plans to nearly double council tax from April 2027, though no decision has been taken on either.
In your area
East Putney had the most households of any Putney.news ward using the free service, 1,840, followed by Thamesfield (1,683), West Putney (1,502), Southfields (1,354), West Hill (1,306) and Roehampton (808). Most households used it only once: across the borough, 67 per cent made a single booking. Putney’s businesses have also been asked to pay more for the same thing, through their BID levy.
What changes and when
Until the council confirms a start date, the current terms still apply: every household gets two free bulky waste collections a year, each covering up to four items or 12 sacks, booked online or by phone. The council has not said when the £30 charge and the reduced 100-slot limit will take effect.
The plans go to the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee at 7.30pm tonight, and to Cabinet for a final decision on 12 October.
