Ealing Council Recycling Plan Rubbished

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Locals complain as Council apologises for "teething problems"

Ealing Council has apologised to residents whose recycling or refuse collection was missed by its new service provider and promised to put on extra collections.

“Apologies to anyone whose recycling or refuse collection has been missed. We have had some teething problems but we have got extra crews working to clear up any missed areas " said a statement from the Council.

Keith Townsend, executive director of environment and customer services, said: “I would like to apologise for any inconvenience this has caused and thank residents for their patience. Crews will be working on the Easter bank holidays and on Saturday to do everything we can do sort out this problem as quickly as possible."

Residents are reminded that collections will take place a day later than usual from 9-13 April because of the Easter bank holiday.

To report a missed collection visit www.ealing.gov.uk/recycling or contact the customer services team on 020 8825 6000.

The Council's plan to save millions by using a private contractor to handle refuse collection hit a hurdle on the first day. Furious locals were left with recycling bins uncollected and some said their bins had disappeared completely.The chaos appears to have made a mockery of Ealing's attempts to encourage locals to recycle more waste.

Environmental services contractor Enterprise was to start work from Sunday, April 1st “to keep the borough’s streets spic and span and collect household rubbish and recycling” according to the Council. The new contract was to save £3 million a year.

Some residents said that the new refuse vans were too large to fit down some of the borough’s streets and roads. Others reported that recycling bins had not been collected by late afternoon, or that bins went missing. Several residents complained to the Council about the recycling problems. One said “You couldn't make it up”.  

The controversy comes just after the Council introduced a subscription service for garden waste collection, which angered many locals. Ealing residents are now being charged £40 a year to have garden waste collected by the Council.  

Under the new contract, most residents were to have their rubbish and recycling collected on the same day but different lorries would pick up different items. The plastics waste would be collected with green box recycling.

The Council's contract with Enterprise covers waste, recycling, street cleaning, parks and grounds maintenance, and burial and cemetary services.

 

April 5, 2012