What went wrong with east Suffolk bin collections?

A council has admitted its new bin service has not been "good enough", blaming factors including a spike in sick leave for refuse collectors and a shortage of lorry drivers.

People in east Suffolk have complained about missed collections since the Better Recycling scheme was introduced in June.

Under the scheme, households are required to separate recycling into additional bins, including food waste caddies, which should be collected weekly by East Suffolk Council.

For many those collections have not been happening, but what went wrong and what is the council going to do about it?

Lib Dem deputy leader of the council, Paul Ashton, told the BBC the rollout of the service had "not been good enough" and apologised to those affected by missed collections.

He added that "the majority of people in east Suffolk had had a good service."

Food waste bins should be collected weekly but due to the difficulties, the council said it would try to ensure they were collected at least once every two weeks. It admitted it's failed to achieve that consistently.

Speaking at a council meeting on Wednesday, Ashton said there were 302 requests from people who had not had bins delivered. He said around 100 new bins were being delivered a day but these were not all related to the new scheme.

He said around 60 people were contacting the authority over bins every day, although that includes issues such as lost, stolen or damaged bins.

Recycling rates in east Suffolk have improved by nearly 10% since the scheme started, Ashton claimed.

Ashton said some of the problems were caused by "teething issues", with new vehicles, new mechanical issues and crews getting up to speed.

Other issues included weight calibration on the new lorries which meant drivers were unsure how much they were carrying, leading to more frequent journeys to empty.

Ashton said a national issue of a shortage of lorry drivers was "acutely" felt in east Suffolk with the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power station making the "market for new drivers and retaining drivers harder."

A spike in sick leave, congestion at the station for emptying the lorries and hot weather were also problems, according to Ashton.

The council is hiring an expert with "20 years experience recovering waste collection services that have problems".

Ashton said he believed the expert, who has been given a four-month contract, would help save money, as currently, trying to put the problems right is costing more.

He added that agency staff had been brought in to help respond to complaints.

The council has also served a breach of contract notice on the provider of its services, East Suffolk Services Limited, which is wholly owned by the council itself.

Ashton said serving the notice was procedural and emphasised that the council and East Suffolk Services were working together on a "detailed improvement plan".

In short, the council doesn't know.

Ashton said the issues are repairable, adding: "We can collect bins, we are just not doing it to the standard we would like to at the moment."

He said the problem is "already getting better" with collection rates around 90% for food waste on some days.

He said those who had garden waste bins not collected, which is a service charged for on top of council tax, would have their contracts extended by the number of missed weeks.

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