A Hounslow resident is campaigning for recycling to be provided to flats above shops, a service not currently available in the borough.

Clíona Malin, 24, who lives in a flat above a shop in Hounslow, was surprised to find out when she moved in last September, that recycling was not provided.

She said: "I thought this was really strange, I always thought of recycling services as a given, as I believe it should be.

"It should be a service that all residents have a right to and that the council has a responsibility to provide, because it's an important service that our council tax is going towards."

If Clíona and her two flatmates want to recycle their items, they must currently walk a 50-minute round trip to the recycling centre in a Sainsbury's car park at Chiswick Park.

They make this trip every two weeks, usually with four large, full bags of recyclable rubbish.

"But not everyone has the capacity to do this" Clíona stressed, "and this option is completely inaccessible for residents with a physical disability or chronic health condition, who have no choice but to dispose of their recyclable rubbish with the rest of their household waste."

Taking matter into their own hands, Clíona and her flatmates started a council petition, calling on them to provide a doorstop recycling service.

Neighbourhood App Nextdoor helped raise awareness with local residents and also connected Clíona with her ward councillors who she said have been very supportive about the issue.

The petition, which closed 22 April, received 250 signatures, including Councillor Joanna Biddolph and Councillor Patrick Barr.

Clíona made a speech about the petition at the recent borough council meeting on 21 September.

In the speech, she referred to Hounslow Council's declaration of a Climate Emergency in June 2019 and their commitment to reduce the council's carbon footprint.

She added: "Considering that recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions, as noted on the Hounslow Council website, providing a recycling collection service for all residents seems like a logical step in this direction."

Hounslow Council also recently invited Hounslow residents to 'Step It Up' and 'rethink their rubbish' during Recycle Week last month.

During the meeting, Councillor for Brentford and Cabinet Member for Highways, Recycling and Companies Guy Lambert thanked Clíona for the petition, which he noted was "dear to my heart".

Cllr Lambert said: "We really do want to provide recycling to flats above shops, it's in our recycling plan that we are gradually rolling out.

"We are very aware that the service for above shops is not what we would like it to be but we are working very hard to come up with a solution and we will, but it takes time to get these things sorted."

He mentioned plans were delayed because of the pandemic, and a previous scheme had not been successful as, in practice, "nothing was recycled".

Clíona ended her speech by asking Hounslow Council, in their own words, to "'Step It Up' and provide a recycling collection service to all of their residents, including residents living in flats above shops."

She will continue to put pressure on the council and raise awareness to make sure the issue doesn't fall off the table.