Missed bin collections after new system introduced

A Preston resident has branded an overhaul of bin collection rounds in the city “chaotic” – after three of his pick-ups were missed in the space of a week.

Preston City Council says it has received “a high number” of reported problems since changes were introduced almost a fortnight ago.

Unscheduled collections were made on Saturday in a seeming attempt to get back on track, but the authority is asking anyone whose bins have not been emptied – but are not yet full – to await their next routine visit.

A householder who lives on Armstrong Street in Ashton – but did not want to be named – said his new food waste caddy was left uncollected two weeks in a row and was beginning to smell. 

Meanwhile, he says he is now facing a month-long wait for his “almost overflowing” recycling to be taken away after that was also missed.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that only one collection had been made correctly since the new system launched – and that all of his neighbours on the street were in the same position.

The city council began the biggest revamp of its waste collection service in 14 years on 20th April.

The shake-up saw the authority move to a simplified set-up under which all households now have all their bins emptied on the same day within the fortnightly collection cycle – which continues to alternate between general rubbish and recycling.

The shift was timed to coincide with the introduction of a new weekly food waste collection, as part of a national rollout of that service. 

Meanwhile, the two recycling bins provided to Preston properties – one for paper and cardboard, the other for glass, metal and some plastics – are now collected by separate vehicles at different times of the day, having previously been emptied by the same wagon. 

The city council heavily publicised the changes to ensure residents were aware of how they could be affected, either by seeing their collection day or the time of their pick-ups alter – or both.   Calendars setting out the new collection rotas were issued to all dwellings and an online facility for checking bin-emptying days was updated well in advance of the changeover.

However, the Armstrong Street resident says all that preparation was for nought in his road’s case – because the bins were simply not emptied when they were supposed to be.

His food waste caddy had been due for collection on 23rd and 30th April – but was untouched on both occasions.

Speaking on Friday (1st May), he said: “It smells pretty bad, especially with the warm weather. It’s nearly full, so I’ve given up with it.”

His was one of the addresses to receive an unscheduled weekend pick-up which finally saw the caddy emptied on Saturday morning.  However, there has been no such relief for his recycling bins – which were also due to be collected on 30th April, but were left standing in the street. 

There had already been a three-week gap since his last recycling collection, because of a change to the usual pattern brought about by the new system, which meant general waste was taken away on consecutive weeks on 16th and 23rd April – a quirk he says was not been made clear in the pre-publicity and so caught out several of his neighbours.

Unless an unscheduled pick up is arranged for the recycling bins on Armstrong Street, they are not now due to be collected until 14th May – more than month after they were last emptied on 9th April.   

“What are we supposed to do?” the resident asked.   “It’s almost overflowing and, in some cases, blowing everywhere.

“I realise it must be due to teething problems, but it’s been quite chaotic. On Thursday, a bin lorry turned up on the street at 8.30am, but then drove away five minutes later without collecting anything. 

“It’s just disappointing that it hasn’t gone to plan.”      

The LDRS approached Preston City Council on Friday for comment about the situation affecting Armstrong Street – which is one of a minority of roads whose collection day had not even changed under the new system.

While the authority did not respond to that specific case, it put a message on its Facebook page the same day which said that the new food waste collection service had been “overwhelmingly positive” – and thanked residents for their co-operation with its launch.

However, the post added: “We know some bins have been missed during the changeover, and we are sorry if this has affected you. Our team are working round the clock to support these new changes

“We’ve had a high number of missed bin reports, [so] if your bin/caddy was missed, but if it’s not full, and can wait, please await for your next scheduled collection.

“If you have logged a missed collection, please do not report again as the team will get to it in due course.

“Thank you for your patience and for doing your bit by recycling your food and waste.

The authority appealed to residents to ensure their bins were always put out by 7am on their scheduled collection day and to check the new schedule at https://preston.pulse.ly/nc5ql2dokb

Meanwhile, the Labour leader of Preston City Council, Matthew Brown, said in a post on X on Saturday that food waste collection issues were “reportedly affecting other nearby local authority areas” as well.

He added: “Our hard working council staff are out this bank holiday weekend collecting any remaining missed collections. I remain in dialogue with the Chief Executive to ensure the situation is fully resolved and does not reoccur.”