Ecology

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Many groups are working to preserve the natural habitats of Wennington and Rainham marshes.

Rainham Marshes, one of London’s best sites for wildlife is under threat from development. The RSPB, along with other conservation organisations, is campaigning hard to save the whole area and its wildlife. They have now bought Aveley and Wennington Marshes and part of Rainham Marsh - generally known as Rainham Marshes - for nature conservation.

In May 2002 Friends of the Earth local people and campaigners from Essex, across London and the country in celebrating saving the Rainham Marsh Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) from destruction.
The site has now been saved for the
nation after local council, the London
Borough of Havering, finally conceded
that the marsh, part of the wider
Inner Thames Marsh SSSI, should be
kept for conservation. This u-turn comes
after more than a decadeof campaigning by environment groups and local residents to preserve the marsh as part of the regeneration of the wider Thames Gateway zone instead of covering it in concrete.

There are only a few ancient landscapes left in London and this RSPB reserve is one of them.
Bought from the Ministry of Defence in July 2000, its former use as shooting ranges has preserved much of the original medieval land-form and marshland wildlife and is now the largest remaining expanse of wetland bordering the upper reaches of the Thames Estuary.

Nearest railway station
C2C rail runs a regular train service (approx every 30 mins) from London Fenchurch Street to Purfleet Station (Essex). On leaving the station, turn right, follow road passing the pub, The Royal, on the left-hand side. The road now bends to the right. Look for large galvanised double gates on your left-hand side with RSPB signs.

Havering
Shanks East London took over the management of Havering’s kerbside recycling scheme in April 2004. For those of you who live in houses within the borough, Shanks East London provides you with a roll of sixteen orange survival bags every thirteen weeks. Orange survival bags are collected with the normal black sack rubbish but are tough enough to be compacted without splitting. They are then separated out and processed in a Materials Recycling Facility, where the materials are separated and bulked up for reprocessing.
Unfortunately for those of you who live in flats this service is not yet available and we are working with the London Borough of Havering to investigate ways in which we can supply you with an efficient orange bag service.
If you run out of orange bags within the thirteen week period you can get additional supplies from your local library, Romford Town Hall, Mercury House or from the Public Advice Services Centre located at the Liberty Shopping Centre. If the libraries have run out please ask them to let us know and we will arrange for additional orange bags to be supplied.
Shanks East London is currently providing householders with a leaflet that identifies the items that can be recycled. Here are the items that you can put in the orange survival bags:
Empty plastic bottles (rinsed out please and remove the lids) including shampoo, cooking oils, water drinks, detergent and milk.
Metals: empty steel and aluminium cans and aluminium foil.
Paper: newspapers, magazines, junk mail, white telephone books, and wrapping paper.
Thin cardboard like cereal boxes.
Please do not put these items into the bags.
Glass bottles and jars.
Kitchen or garden waste.
Toys or household items.
Aerosol cans.
Paint tins or engine oil containers.
Margarine tubs, yogurt pots.

Many residents would like to recycle glass. Unfortunately if glass breaks in the orange survival bag it will contaminate the paper. Glass can be recycled at the Gerpins Lane Recycling Centre and via the recycling banks.
The London Borough of Havering collects the orange survival bags on the same day of the week as your black bags, They are deposited in dust carts which transport them to the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in Rainham.At the MRF the orange bags are separated from the black bags (which are sent to landfill) abd the contents are sorted.
Recyclable materials are then sent to mills to be made into new products. For further information contact London Borough of Havering’s StreetCare Call Centre on 01708 432563 or
e-mail: streetcare@havering.gov.uk

For information on the Rainham Silt Lagoons and the breeding birds dependant upon them please click on the attached link for the Port of London Authority.

Rainham, Wennington & Aveley Marshes lie alongside the Thames
Between Rainham and Purfleet.
The RSPB sees this Greengrid
Area as a flagship environmental
Project For people living within the Thames Gateway.