MALVERN Hills District Council’s new waste collection programme will be closely scrutinised when it gets rolled out next month.
And the leader of the authority’s Democratic Group, Coun Sarah Rouse, said she would be watching closely to ensure the mistakes made with the recycling bin scheme five years ago were not repeated.
Coun Rouse claimed when the green bins were introduced in May 2013, the refuse yard on Spring Lane had issues with the capacity of lorries which meant staff spent more time collecting rubbish from wheeled bins.
This led to the district council spending ‘huge amounts’ of money on agency staff and hiring more lorries to resolve the problem.
With more than 27,000 black wheelie bins distributed across the district ahead of the new alternative weekly collections which start on April 2, Coun Rouse fears history could repeat itself.
“We want to make sure this time around money is not wasted on agency staff to mop up the mess,” she said.
“This is one of our core services and residents should expect the very best and most efficient service to be provided.”
Coun Bronwen Behan, portfolio holder for environment on the district council, confirmed the authority spent £5,000 on extra arrangements to ensure every resident had received a recycling bin.
She admitted ‘some lessons’ had been learnt from the 2013 roll-out.
“Despite all the best efforts in a largely rural district such as Malvern Hills it is not unusual for some homes to have been missed and we are now asking residents who are expecting a bin that hasn’t arrived to contact us,” she said.
“This is an important change and I’d like to thank residents for their support and co-operation so far.”
A majority of councillors voted in February last year to introduce alternate weekly collections.
The move will help save the council £250,000 towards its target of saving £1.45million by 2021 due to reductions in Government funding.
Any household expecting a black bin it has not yet received should contact the waste changes hotline on 01684 862490 as soon as possible.
Landlords who own flats or apartments and have yet to be contacted by the district council should get in touch immediately.
Residents can keep up to date with the changes as well as receive tips on recycling and waste reduction by signing up to the electronic newsletter at www.malvernhills.gov.uk/emailalerts.
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