File:Pavement Narrowed - Grand Parade - 1.jpg

English: 4 August 2014. Grand Parade, Green Lanes London N4.

In the past I've described Haringey's culture of dumping rubbish on the street as "The Third System".

  ► The First System is when waste is collected from people's homes   or businesses, by Veolia - the council's contractors.   ► The Second System are "bring sites" where people can take waste.    These include the Reuse & Recycling Centres; and textile and bottle banks,   ► The Third System (my description not the Council's) is when people   simply dump rubbish on the street, in an alley, a park or anywhere else.

Of course, the Third System is mainly illegal and subject to fines - if someone is caught. But not quite entirely. Sometimes bags on the street are part of an authorised street collection. These are usually "timed bag collections restricted to specified hours and locations. Although it's not hard to guess, that bags left on the street for official collection later are likely to become a "model" and a "magnet" - encouraging and attracting added rubbish dumping.

On 9 August 2014, Michelle vonAhn made a Freedom of Information request to Haringey Council. In it she gave timed bag collections a more accurate description — authorised on-street rubbish dumps.