Preston waste review begins

A wholesale review of Preston City Council’s waste collection service is under way in an attempt to rectify problems that emerged following a recent overhaul, the Local Democracy Reporting Service has learned.

The authority is assessing the capacity of its vehicles – and how much rubbish they deal with – in order to decide whether it needs to redesign its pick-up schedule for the second time since the spring.

The town hall announced last month that some residents may see their bin collection day change once again as the council aims to restore reliability to the system.

However, when asked by the LDRS for details of the nature and extent of any further shake-up, the authority said it was too early to say – and revealed the depth of its review in the process.

Some parts of the city have been hit with missed collections after changes introduced on 20th April as part of what was billed as the biggest revamp of Preston’s waste operation for 14 years.

The redesign was timed to coincide with the start of weekly food waste collections in the city, as required by a government-ordered nationwide rollout.

However, delays in the delivery of the new wagons needed for the additional service immediately had a knock-on effect on the collection of general and recyclable rubbish – leaving some households with their bins unemptied long after they should have been.

The city council’s cabinet member for health, wellbeing and neighbourhood services, Zafar Coupland, told a full council meeting just under a fortnight ago that the final three outstanding food waste lorries – of the eight the authority had ordered – were due to arrive by August at the latest.

However, she then floated the possibility of more changes to come to collection days – pointing towards a deeper-seated problem with the new arrangements, less than three months after they were implemented.

At the heart of that overhaul was the introduction of a new waste collection calendar that ensured all households had their rubbish removed on the same day within the fortnightly emptying cycle – alternating between grey bin general waste and green bin recyclable material, with the new food waste pick-ups occurring weekly.   Around nine in 10 properties saw their collection day alter as a result.

The LDRS asked Preston City Council whether any further changes that are ultimately agreed could see some addresses revert to the previous set-up, under which they had different collection days for different types of waste – but the authority did not rule anything in or out.

A town hall spokesperson said:  “At this stage, we are exploring potential operational changes to ensure we can continue to deliver an efficient and reliable waste collection service. Our operations team is currently undergoing a review on factors such as vehicle capacity, collection rounds and tonnage data to determine what changes will be required.

“As this work is still ongoing, no final decisions have been made regarding which areas may be affected, when any changes would take place, or the specific arrangements for residents.

“We will communicate any confirmed changes to residents as soon as it is practical to do so. However, it is too early to provide a specific timescale while our assessment work continues.”

Another major change introduced in April was separate collections – on the same day – for each household’s two recycling bins.    Dedicated vehicles now empty the red-lidded green bins – used for paper and cardboard – and their yellow-lidded counterparts, which take glass, metal and some plastics.     Previously all recycling was collected by the same wagon.

Speaking in May, city council leader Matthew Brown said of the teething troubles with the new waste system:  “We collect waste and recycling from 72,000 households every week – and we would stress that the disruption affects only a small minority of residents. We apologise to residents for this inconvenience and are working hard to put things right.”