Thousands Complain About Missed Bin Collections

Figures obtained by a Labour Councillor show that there were almost 3000 complaints about missed bin collections to the city council in the last few months.

This follows cuts to the number of crews and staff in the City's refuse collection service by the Conservative-led council. 

In October, most city residents had their collection day changed. This led to a massive increase in the number of complaints from residents to Cityclean, the council's in-house refuse and recycling service, with almost 1,400 calls in October alone. Prior to the cuts in the number of bin crews, complaints averaged at around 250 a month.

Councillor Warren Morgan, who chairs the council's Environment scrutiny committee, said

"I have had a number of complaints from residents about missed collections over the past four months, and the letters page of the Argus has shown how many people have been angry that their bins have not been emptied, sometimes for weeks at a time."

Residents face even greater disruption to their recycling service in February as more crews are cut and collection days change, at the same time as communal bins are introduced across the city centre.

"Cityclean staff are doing their best to implement the multiple changes forced on them by the Tory council, but I'm very concerned that if recycling collections are missed people will be discouraged from recycling their waste. This would be a disaster after the years of work put in to building up the city's recycling service under the previous Labour administration."