Breach of contract notice served over 'shambolic' bins issue

A council criticised for missing bin collections for weeks under a new recycling regime has served a breach of contract notice on the provider of its services.

East Suffolk Council is essentially serving notice on itself as the firm it has served notice on - East Suffolk Services Limited - is council-owned. It has also apologised to residents for the debacle.

But how has a process as routine as collecting the bins gone so wrong?

The government wanted to simplify recycling and standardise it.

It required all councils in England to collect glass, metal, plastic, paper, card and food and garden waste from 31 March 2026 - but Suffolk authorities decided to start slightly later.

The Better Recycling scheme has been operational since 1 June across the county.

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

The other bins are on a different collection cycle - either every three weeks or every two weeks - depending on where you live.

In the seven weeks since the new recycling programme started, all councils in the county experienced teething problems, but East Suffolk Council's issues have continued, including breaking its commitment to collect food waste weekly.

Residents have reported maggots, flies and vermin due to missed collections.

There have also been missed collections of larger wheelie bins used for general waste, recycling and green waste bins, which are a paid-for service.

The council has acknowledged that the issues in East Suffolk are beyond problems bedding in.

Paul Ashton, the Lib Dem deputy leader of the council, said: "In early July, it became apparent to me that this wasn't just teething problems. This wasn't just stuff that would sort itself out quickly. It was a fundamental issue with the operation that appeared fine before we did this change.

"I apologise. This is not what we wanted to do. We are sorry; we are trying to address it."

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

He added that the council had recruited a specialist with 20 years' experience in rescuing bin operations, who would start in August.

East Suffolk Council is the largest district in the country.

Independent councillor Julia Ewart said: "I think it's about the most poorly planned and exceptionally badly rolled out experience I've ever seen."

She criticised the authority, as the waste service provider is wholly owned by them.

"They haven't got a handle on their provider and they own the provider," she said.

"So call me old-fashioned, you'd have all worked together. And the most fundamental thing is you'd have had the bin men round the table."

"I just feel the council is out of its depth and not listening."

The East Suffolk Conservative Group accused the leadership of a "fundamental failure" in rolling out the new service.

Mark Jepson, leader of the East Suffolk Conservatives, said: "We recognise the severe frustrations our residents have faced.

"They deserve evidenced, considered, and forensic questioning that reflects the poor leadership of what should have been a relatively simple new programme."

Leiston resident Carl Creed, who has had his collections missed on a number of occasions, says the system has been "inconsistent".

"We're talking about putting bins out," he added. "We're not talking about putting a spaceship on Mars or anything. It's a simple process.

"Nobody really knows when the bins will be picked up or not."

Creed complained to the council but said he was left waiting on the phone for 40 minutes to be told the bin would be reported as missed and they would let him know when they would come and collect it.

Under the new recycling scheme, food waste is separated out and put into smaller caddies which are meant to be collected weekly. Recycling, general refuse and paper and card are then collected every three weeks.

Creed said of the food caddies: "You're not sure when it's going to be picked up and it's terrible after a while, the smell is really bad."

Green waste collections are a service which residents can opt into and must be paid for. But even those collections are being missed, according to Creed.

Chris Dow lives in Grundisburgh and sits on the parish council.

The village lies within the boundary of East Suffolk Council and Dow says it had also experienced missed collections.

"I think it's pretty universal," he said. "No one is particularly happy. It's the not knowing what's going to be collected."

He told the BBC the food bins were causing the most problems.

"Three weeks of discarded food in these temperatures that we've been having, it's a breeding ground for flies and maggots. It's really unsavoury," he says.

"It's poor management, poor implementation. To be honest, it's shambolic."

Dow said people in the village were getting frustrated.

"They've told councillors and others that they would be depositing their rubbish outside the council offices unless they can actually do something more positive about it," he added.

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