Apology after food bins went uncollected for weeks

A council's new waste collection scheme which was branded a "complete shambles" led to thousands of homes not having their food waste bins collected for at least three weeks, according to a report.

East Suffolk Council came under heavy criticism as it rolled out a new rota of bin collections in June, with some residents complaining their bins were ignored for weeks during the summer heatwaves.

A review found 28,527 households went 21 days or more without a food bin collection, and one home in Sotherton, near Halesworth, waited 70 days.

Paul Ashton, the council's lead for corporate services, apologised for the disruption and said improvements were already happening.

"We clearly had issues and I think it's really important that councils get better at reviewing what happened and learning lessons and taking those forward," he added.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, more than 80% of the district experienced issues with unreliable or non-existent food waste collections during the months of June and July.

In July, the council served a breach of contract notice on East Suffolk Services Limited, its own arm's length company responsible for waste services, and later changed its collections days to tackle problems in "hard to reach" areas.

Residents had complained of stinky bins waiting in the summer heat for four weeks, but calls for a tax rebate for the upheaval were rejected.

The report to the overview and scrutiny committee described the changes as "one of the largest and most complex service changes" in waste collection for many years and, despite the disruption, still resulted in recycling rates reaching 57%, up from 44%.

It said the issues were symptoms of several root causes, including a lack of understanding of the complexity of the changes, slow decision-making and a lack of resources.

The cost of the disruption is still being assessed, with more information expected under the authority's upcoming improvement plan.

The authority said discussions were ongoing to recover costs where supplied performance fell below expectation, but warned most issues were covered by "force majeure" clauses – which take in extraordinary events.

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