Waste collections in Mid Sussex missing 288 homes each week - but 99.58 per cent of collections completed on time
Waste and recycling collections in Mid Sussex have been missing around 288 homes each week, district councillors have been told.
The figures were shared during a six-month review of the 1-2-3 service, which provides weekly food waste collections, fortnightly recycling collections and three-weekly general waste collections to around 72,000 homes.
Chris Hobbs, cabinet member for leisure & customer services, acknowledged that the number was ‘not acceptable’ but pointed out that such a big change in the way waste and recycling was collected was always going to bring ‘challenges and struggles’.
He added: “This is a once in 20-year event that we’ve been through, and we as a relatively small council don’t have a whole team of back-room staff to be able to deliver once in 20-year events. We have a very small waste management team – and I think they’re risen exceptionally to the challenge.”
A report to the committee said that, as of April, 99.58 per cent of collections had been completed on time, and there had been ‘significant improvements’ in recycling performance.
But Simon Hughes, the council’s director of people & commercial services,said it was important to recognise that ‘for some residents, the introduction of the 1-2-3 service has not initially been a positive experience’.
The early days saw more than 1,000 households making complaints and reporting issues such as bins being missed, food waste containers breaking, and ‘difficulties’ for some people living in flats.
Mrs Hughes said that their ‘frustration is entirely understandable’.
Despite its teething problems, figures presented to the committee showed that the roll-out of 1-2-3 had been very successful.
Between January and March, the recycling rate stood at 45 per cent – it is now 61 per cent, just 4 per cent shy of the 65 per cent national target which has to be achieved by 2035.
Over the same period, contamination in dry recycling dropped from 5.86 per cent to 4.07 per cent, and the number of assisted collections for vulnerable people rose from 1,092 households to 1,422 households.
The report stated: “More material is being collected, more of it is being recycled, contamination is reducing, and more households with support needs are being helped to use the service.”
Gary Marsh (Con, Ardingly, Balcombe & Turners Hill) said 1-2-3 was ‘a good service’ but he asked questions about possible penalty clauses being brought into play against contractor Serco for missing bins, and whether there had been an increase in fly-tipping and people having to take rubbish to the tip as it would not fit into their black bins.
Officers said there had been a six-month period of grace regarding penalties. No ‘specific issue’ had been flagged regarding the use of the tip, and no data was yet available regarding fly-tipping.
Officers also reported that, over the past nine weeks, around 1.8 per cent of collections had been missed more than once – a situation they were working to address.