Bin woes caused by known issues happening 'at once'

The failure to collect food waste from thousands of homes over the summer was caused by known risks that happened "all at once", according to the head of the waste service.

East Suffolk Council was criticised after its new bin rota in June led to more than 80% of households seeing little or no waste collections for two months.

A review found issues were caused by a combination of factors, including a lack of understanding of the complexity of the collection changes, slow decision-making and a lack of resources.

Cassandra Clements, managing director for East Suffolk Services Ltd (ESSL), said while the risks were known, "I don't think anyone believed all of them would happen at once".

ESSL is the council-owned company which is responsible for the collections.

Clements addressed the findings of the review at the council's overview and scrutiny committee meeting on Thursday.

She said: "These things are risks that were understood and known about - I don't think anyone believed all of them would happen at once.

"It was that compounding effect that had such a big impact on residents."

More than 30,000 residents waited more than 21 days for their collections, with one household waiting for 70 days.

At the time residents branded the collections a "complete shambles".

Heather Nyberg, from Parham, told the BBC: "Our bins haven't been emptied for four weeks now and they stink - it's horrendous and they're covered in maggots and fleas and there are rodents."

Jamie Lloyd, who owns a bin cleaning company based in Framlingham, said his customer base had doubled since the new scheme was introduced.

"I can't complain because customer inquiries have gone through the roof, because the bins are obviously getting smelly, dirty and horrible," he said.

Before the changes went live, issues had been raised but the council said it was hard to have foreseen the scale of problems.

Kerry Blair, a strategic director for the authority, said they did not have the data to properly assess the situation.

"There was a period of time where we couldn't quantify or really understand where things were going wrong," he said.

The council has since launched a phone app capable of seeing how many bins were missed and their location each day.

Despite the issues, the report found recycling rates rose across the district, from 44% to 57%.

Caroline Topping, leader of the council, said the service had been "as ready as it could be" by the June deadline but added that everyone involved "has learned a great deal".

The committee agreed to look into formal recommendations, but also floated the possibility of an independent review.

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