The council is apologising to anyone whose recycling or refuse collection has been missed this week.

The council’s new contractor, Enterprise, has experienced some teething problems in the first few days of taking over the contract but has got extra crews working to clear up any missed collections.

‘Mop-up’ teams are picking up missed items together before sorting materials for recycling back at the council depots.

Residents should leave their recycling or refuse out as usual for collection. For the first few weeks of the contract, food waste will be collected separately from the other recycling. Anyone whose rubbish hasn’t been collected should report it through the online form or contact the council’s customer services on 0208 825 6000.

Under the new contract, most residents will continue to have their rubbish and recycling collected on the same day but different lorries will pick up different items. Plastics will now be collected in the same vehicle as green box recycling. For the first few weeks of the contract, food waste will be collected separately from the other recycling.

Garden waste will be collected fortnightly on the same day as other recycling collections but on a subscription basis. Residents who wish to use the chargeable garden waste service will pay an annual charge of £40 or a discounted fee of £30 for residents over 65 and those who receive means-tested benefits. Payments can be made by direct debit, debit or credit card or alternatively by cheque or cash. Subscribers will pay for the whole year until March 2013.

Under the scheme subscribers will be able to choose to put their garden waste in a wheelie bin or three re-usable hessian sacks, unless they live on a red route, where they will receive biodegradable sacks.

Garden waste can still be taken to the borough’s waste and recycling centres in Stirling Road, Acton, and Greenford Road, Greenford for free by residents who would prefer not to join the scheme. Ealing Council is also working with Straight Plc to offer residents reduced prices for compost bins starting from £15 for a 220 litre compost bin.

Residents living on red routes that used to have Saturday rubbish and recycling collections will now have a weekday collection instead.

From 1 April, streets will also be cleaned the same day as refuse and recycling collection, but after the collection has taken place so any spilt waste will be dealt with immediately – currently they are cleaned the day after collection.

The council’s contract with Enterprise covers waste, recycling, street cleaning, parks and grounds maintenance, and burial and cemetery services. The new contract has been structured to deliver significant savings - cutting annually around £3million from the council’s bill.

Keith Townsend, executive director of environment and customer services, said: “I would like to apologise to anyone whose collection has been missed. We are doing our utmost to ensure refuse and recycling collections continue to run smoothly but we would ask for residents’ patience as the new contractor takes over.

“Making Ealing a cleaner place to live is one of the council’s key priorities, working with Enterprise we will be working to improve standards even further.

“I would like to thank residents for their continued commitment to recycling helping recycling rates to improve year-on-year. There is now very little that can’t be recycled from home and I would encourage everyone to cut the amount of waste going to landfill by making full use of all the recycling services available.”

Collection days for refuse and recycling will change during the Easter period.

Collection days for refuse and recycling remain unchanged from Monday, 2 April to Friday, 6 April but there will be changes for the week commencing Monday, 9 April.
Usual collection day Actual collection day
Monday, 9 April Tuesday, 10 April
Tuesday, 10 April Wednesday, 11 April
Wednesday, 11 April Thursday, 12 April
Thursday, 12 April Friday, 13 April
Friday, 13 April Saturday, 14 April

4th April 2012