This was Hastings seafront on the first day of the council’s new waste and recycling contract

Piles of rubbish were spilling out across the pavement on the seafront on Monday morning as Hastings Borough Council launched its new waste and recycling contract with Biffa.
Seafront rubbish SUS-190107-144501001Seafront rubbish SUS-190107-144501001
Seafront rubbish SUS-190107-144501001

This scene, photographed just before 10am, was just a few yards away from the Hastings Council offices.

It followed numerous complaints over the weekend about over-flowing litter bins and rubbish strewn along the seafront.

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There were also complaints from residents in the Old Town that their rubbish had not been collected as it usually was, during the day on Monday.

One resident commented: “I came back from work at 6pm and the rubbish had still not been collected as it usually is on a Monday.

“The pink recycling bags had been collected but the main household waste was still there. It doesn’t exactly fill you with optimism over the changes the council has introduced,”

A Hastings Borough Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of these issues and have taken action. The service is new and it will improve and bed in as time goes by.

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“We have a reporting mechanism in place and we do act whenever we are informed about incidents.”

They went on to say: “With regard to the large bins along Pelham Crescent; only one of the bins is managed by the council. Unfortunately the bin wasn’t emptied enough to accommodate for its high use over the weekend. This issue has been raised with our new contractor Biffa, so that adjustments can be made to the schedule to avoid a repeat of the situation.

“Regarding the boating lake bins; we were made aware of this issue and our new in-house street cleaning service dealt with it.

“We have invested a lot of time and energy into making reporting problems like litter bins that need emptying, very quick and easy. At the same time we have improved how effectively we deal with problems that are reported to us.

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“We therefore continue to encourage residents and visitors to report problems to us using my.hastings.gov.uk so we can deal with them. Some of the new street cleaning vehicles also have information about how to report written on them.

“In addition, we will shortly be putting more bins along the seafront which will help with the issue of bin capacity.

“It was a particularly challenging weekend for the new service to launch on given how hot and therefore busy it was, and with the St Leonards Festival on. Overall, the service operated well, with few complaints. Teething issues are normal with such a significant service change.