Residents ‘waiting weeks’ for bin collections in ‘perfect storm’ of delays

Nicholas Thomas – Local democracy reporter

Some residents in a Welsh borough have reportedly waited weeks for their bins to be emptied, owing to a “perfect storm” of problems with collections.

Caerphilly County Borough Council said bad weather and recent changes to collection rounds, along with “high volumes” of Christmas waste, were among the reasons for “significant delays” to the service.

The local authority has asked residents to leave their bins outside to be collected “as soon as we can” – but there are now fears the snow which has been forecast for this weekend could throw another spanner in the works.

‘Unacceptable’

Cllr Chris Morgan, the cabinet member for waste, said some residents are facing “unacceptable” waits for collections.

Crews are dealing with the “tail end of zoning changes” introduced in the autumn as a way of rationalising the collection system for various types of waste.

Cllr Morgan said those recent reforms, combined with an “unprecedented” amount of waste staff phoning in sick, had “knocked us for six”.

The council’s remaining collection crews were working weekends “to catch up” but “now we’ve got snow forecast”, he added.

Cllr Morgan said he had called for a review with senior council officers, to try and rectify the ongoing situation, after some people reported “they’ve not had their refuse collected in three weeks”.

Busy

Two independent councillors, in Blackwood, have questioned why changes to collections were introduced in the autumn, so close to the typically busy festive period for crews.

Cllr Kevin Etheridge said the policy “should have been brought in after Christmas” and decision-makers “should have ensured there were enough staff in place”.

Cllr Nigel Dix warned the disruption was “getting out of hand” across the county borough, and said collections “can’t go on the way they are”.

Both said the responsibility for the delays should not rest with the crews, who Cllr Etheridge described as “blameless”.

Cllr Dix said staff were doing a “sterling job”, but the organisation of collections was “not good enough and it is not acceptable”.

“This is the one service residents depend on more than any other,” he added.

‘Storm’

Cllr Morgan called the situation a “perfect storm” and extended “a big thank you to the people who are doing extra to try and catch up” and for going “above and beyond what they should be working”.

In a statement published earlier this week, the council apologised for the “inconvenience and disruption to services during this key period”.

It explained crews would focus their “reduced resources” on food waste and refuse collections, and also encouraged residents to use the council’s household recycling centres to “dispose of recyclable materials wherever possible”.

“It is likely to take a few days to catch up, so we ask those with missed collections to keep their bins out and we will collect as soon as we can,” the council added at the time.