Months of Kent bin collection delays sees council review new waste contract
Following several months of waste collection disruption, a Kent council is now looking to hear from its residents on changes to their bin collections. In March of this year, the borough councils of Ashford, Maidstone and Swale entered a new eight-year long contract with Suez Recycling and Recovery UK.
The three councils, which work together as the Mid Kent Waste Partnership, had previously held a contract with Biffa. Commencing officially on March 25, the change saw refuse workers issued new, more modern equipment and altered collection routes.
However, prolonged ‘teething issues’ with the new contract followed, resulting in weeks upon weeks of delayed collections and frustration among residents. This prompted apologies from all three councils and Suez back in April.
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Vinnie Masseri, general manager at Suez said at the time: “We are all working hard to get used to the new contract and to collect all the waste that is being presented, however, we know that at the moment, we’re not completing all of our rounds on the scheduled day. This isn’t the standard of service we aim to provide longer term and we expect the service levels to improve as everyone gets used to the changes.”
Though services have shown improvement since, with Ashford Borough Council reporting in spring that approximately 80 per cent of its bin collections had successfully taken place on the normal scheduled days, some households have still endured delays to bin collections. Swale Borough Council (SBC) now says it is carrying out a review of the contract with Suez.
In particular, SBC has said it is investigating “a range of issues related to the start of the new contract, including resources, staffing, data, rounds, contract management, and communications.” The council is urging residents to complete a survey on the preparations for the change and their experiences following its rollout.
This survey will be running throughout the remainder of September, and is set to close at 11:59pm on Wednesday, October 2. Hard copies are also available on request from the council.
Councillor Rich Lehmann, chair of the Environment and Climate Change committee at the council, said:"We know that the move to the new waste contract has not gone as well as we wanted, and we’re still working hard to get Suez to deliver the level of performance we expect. We want to hear people’s experiences about how it went: what went wrong, where did you look for help, what happened when you reported it.
“This will help us carry out the review by making sure people’s experiences are central to what we’re looking at. These responses will help identify areas for improvement to make sure the service is operating effectively for everyone."
The council will also be carrying out workshops with council officers and Suez representatives to look at the issue. Those that wish to share their experiences and opinions on the new waste contract can do so with the survey here.
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