Three Tooting dads have created Instagram accounts to highlight the fly-tipping problems in Wandsworth.

Matthew (@make_tooting_tidy), Riccardo (@tooting_trash) and Damien @mattressesoftooting set up the accounts after noticing increasing rubbish on the streets of Tooting.

One account (@mattressesoftooting) is dedicated to dumped and abandoned mattresses only, while the other accounts include general trash.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service spoke to Matthew Dorkings, who runs @make_tooting_tidy about the problem with fly-tipping in the Wandsworth.

He said: "I set up this Instagram account about a year ago, specifically to document the litter and fly-tipping problems in the area and partly as a way to vent my own frustrations with a bit of humour, but also hopefully to raise a little awareness about the extent of the problems.

"It's like living in an actual dump sometimes.

"The council should definitely be doing more… As to who is responsible, that's a mix. A lot of the obvious fly-tipping of mattresses and furniture is mainly dodgy landlords, chucking out between tenants.

"A lot of the fly-tipping also comes from building projects. You can see it's building materials from builders who presumably didn't want to pay for a skip."

The 36-year-old added: "Some of the rubbish and fly-tipping is probably just ignorance. You see every street corner piled with old furniture and bin bags at all times, you think 'that must be where it goes' or just 'who cares, it's a mess anyway, me adding to it won't make a difference'.

"Ultimately people need to take a bit more pride in their area but there's still more the council could do. More CCTV in fly-tipping hotspots, more bins, higher fines for those caught, naming and shaming online.

"I have a young daughter and it's not nice having to walk past this crap with her every day."

A Wandsworth Council spokesman, said: "Fly-tipping and littering are problems up and down the country and the people who leave bin bags, unwanted furniture and mattresses out on pavements and street corners should be condemned for showing such little care and consideration for their local environment and for the interests of their neighbours.

"We go to great lengths and spend significant sums keeping streets clean, but if people continually choose to fly-tip their waste like this then it is always going to be an uphill battle.

"If people spot a fly-tip then we would ask them to contact us so we can remove it straight away and if anyone has information that could identify those responsible we'd love to hear from them via email to [email protected]."

In May 2021, government data showed that Wandsworth in fact had the second lowest number of recorded fly-tips in inner London.

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