October round-up: Comprehensive recycling on the Common - ACHIEVED!!

Since the Friends launch in May 2018 we’ve campaigned for the introduction of comprehensive recycling on the Common. First, we set up our own weekly litter picks to measure the scale of the problem, asking our ‘litterati’ to separate recyclables from general rubbish. It soon became clear that over half the rubbish collected was recyclable, but destined for incineration alongside general rubbish, unless practices changed. We saved all the recycling until we had enough to make a splash, and then took the opportunity of the 2020 ‘Love Parks’ event to amass it all in front of the huge pink letters, with volunteers and Councillors helping to sort it into plastic, glass, paper and cans.

Dedicated recycling bins followed a year later in July 2021 - not the prettiest bins but a start. The emphasis then moved to educating the public to put their rubbish in the correct bins - we’re still pressing for better signage - and for the official litter pickers to separate recyclables too. After all, they collect far more than we do in our brief Monday morning sessions. We were delighted therefore to hear it announced this month that the official litter pickers - that’s Michael for Wandsworth Common - would from now on separate out recyclables, and not just on Wandsworth Common but in all Wandsworth’s major greenspaces.

We would like to thank Enable for their willingness to engage with us, Continental Landscapes and their litter pickers for their flexibility, our own litterati group for their tireless help, and the Council for getting to YES.

This month’s heritage talk by Philip Boys featured the Black Sea, a beautiful ornamental lake in front of a private estate, sadly filled in by Earl Spencer to provide land for the development of Spencer Park. The windmill was built to feed the lake after its water supply was cut off by the new railway cutting. You can read more about it in our book ‘The Wandsworth Common Story’ and elsewhere on our website.

Finally, it’s the season for fungi spotting and we were delighted to host Ling from Enable who demonstrated her expertise in spotting and identifying all manner of specimens: bonnet and cup fungus, deceivers, stinkhorns and more. Fascinating fungi.