THE number of mattresses being dumped in Waltham Forest has soared by 23 per cent compared with last year, the council has said.


The authority has revealed it collects an average of 800 every month from streets and front gardens, compared with a rate of 650 in 2011 - an annual rise of around 1,800.


The figures have been released as the council renews its calls made last summer for the government to introduce legislation to help tackle the issue.


The borough's reputation for the problem has also been heightened by national media coverage and the viral internet success of local artist 'Warpdog', who has attracted attention for her humorous works incorporating images of fly-tipped mattresses in Walthamstow.


Cllr Clyde Loakes, the cabinet member for environment, said he was very concerned.


He said: "Half of them [the matresses collected by the council] have been illegally dumped by fly-tippers, costing hard-working taxpayers in the region of the £1.5million a year.


“That money could be spent on schools, on libraries, on providing care to vulnerable residents, and I believe there is action central government can take to help us combat this issue.”


He has renewed calls for the government to consider allowing the council to levy a charge to letting agents towards the costs of clearing up dumped mattresses. Cllr Loakes believes the borough's high turnover of tenants in short-term lets is partly to blame.


He also wants mattresses to be banned from landfill sites and for the government to force manufacturers to take more responsibility for disposing of them.


Artist Warpdog, who runs the unofficial 'Walthamstow Tourist Board' website, received worldwide media attention earlier this year for her photographs of “celebrities who look like mattresses”.


She told the Guardian that while it was a good idea for manufacturers to take on more responsibility for recycling, she was not convinced by the other proposals.
 

She said: “Banning mattri from landfill sites will worsen the problem. People making the effort to take their mattri to the local tip clearly aren't the ones fly-tipping.
 

“What will people do with mattri if they can't take them to the tip? Errr - fly-tip them.”
 

But she added: “[But] There is obviously a selfish part of me that would miss the abandoned mattri.


“They make up the E17 landscape and I actually feel a little uneasy if I don't see at least one curled up blue-check double on my way to the market.”