Haringey named worst in country for dumped white goods

Haringey recorded the highest figure for any local authority area last year with 2,756 dumped fridges, dishwashers, ovens and washing machines

An abandoned oven — credit William Starkey via Wikimedia Commons

Haringey has the most reported cases of white goods being fly-tipped in England, according to government figures.

Statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) reveal that, across England, there were more than one million (1,082,673) reported fly tipping incidents in the year ending March 2023, including 50,091 cases including the illegal disposal of white goods.

In London, there were 13,773 incidents of white goods being fly-tipped, the most of any English region, while Haringey recorded the highest figure for any local authority area with 2,756.

Haringey residents can dispose of their unwanted white goods, such as fridges, dishwashers and cookers, at Western Road Reuse and Recycling Centre in Western Road, Wood Green, from 9am to 4pm, Monday to Sunday. Alternatively a bulky waste doorstep collection can be booked for £20 via the Haringey Council website.

When recycled, the materials extracted from white goods can be put to alternative uses. One of the UK’s biggest recyclers of white goods is AO Recycling, which has donated a bench planter made from recycled white goods to the Meadow Orchard Project’s community garden in Crouch End.

Robert Sant, managing director at AO Recycling, said: “It’s concerning that so many people don’t consider that their waste, including old electricals, might be fly-tipped by unscrupulous operators. It’s a huge problem– not only is it ugly and dangerous to wildlife but if some white goods are not disposed of correctly, then harmful gases can be released into the atmosphere, damaging the ozone layer.

“We are on a mission to eventually make new appliances from old ones and within two years, we want to be able to make new fridges using recycled plastic from our state-of-the-art plant.

“In the meantime, we’re proud to have been able to donate this bench planter. We hope that it will motivate residents to think about the right way to recycle and end the blight of fly-tipping.”

A bench at Meadow Orchard Project made from recycled white goods (credit AO Recycling)

Research commissioned by AO also found that one-in-five Brits take an ‘out of sight out of mind’ approach to fly-tipping. When asked ‘how much do you care about fly-tipping if it’s not on your street’, 12% of those quizzed answered ‘if it isn’t on my street I can cope with it’, while another 8% admitted that they ‘don’t care’.

The data also suggested that attitudes against fly-tipping also differ by sex, with only 38% of males being concerned about fly-tipping that isn’t on their street, as opposed to 90% of females who were surveyed.

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