Complaints reduce thanks to waste collection changes

Complaints reduce thanks to waste collection changes

Complains from residents about missed waste collections have reduced by 62 per cent in just one month, thanks to changes to the service in North East Lincolnshire.

At the recent full meeting of NELC, Councillor Stewart Swinburn outlined the measures, which are ensuring that recycling and waste collections are now taking place on time – following many months of problems under the previous Labour administration.

He acknowledged pressure on the service but for a positive reason – recycling rates in the borough has substantially increased.

He said: “The service has implemented the following changes to increase the resliance of recycling collections.

“Optimisation of garden waste and domestic waste rounds to move such needed resources towards recycling.

“ICT improvements to create a visual dashboard to monitor service performance and tackle repeated problems quicker.

“We also have the use of a secondhand compacting vehicle on rounds with the highest volumes to increase the capacity collected.

“We have now commenced a trial using unused space at the waste depot to create a waste transfer station. That’s reducing travel time to the waste plant in Stallingborough.

“We have placed an order for the replacement of old domestic and garden waste collection vehicles in the fleet. This will help to reduce maintenance costs and improve reliability.

“We provided additional staffing for any short-term gaps to meet the Government target of 50 per cent recycling. Local recycling rates need to increase further. A full service review is underway to identify options for a future local service offer.”

Councillor Swinburn explained how new national guidlines coming into force in 2023 are likely to change the parameters NELC has to adhere to.

“This makes the implementation of any larger service changes high-risk until the scope of the future changes to the legal requirements are fully understood,” he continued.

“Following these service changes, complaints from residents regarding missed collections have now reduced by 62 per cent in June alone, compared to what’s been happening previously, and it is expected that the changes made can cater for the increased recycling volumes until the long-term review can be completed.”  

For information about waste and recycling in the borough, click here.

NELC’s Skip It! project continues around the area too. Click here to find out more.

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