Waste firm fined as 'rotting' rubbish piles up

A waste company is being fined by a council for missing thousands of bin collections – leading to "rotting rubbish" and dirty nappies piling up outside homes in the hot weather.

Suez was criticised by South Gloucestershire Council for letting down residents with its "appalling" service.

The company apologised and said the introduction of changes to services had coincided with extremely high temperatures, affecting crews' working hours and pace.

It also blamed a shortage of drivers and older trucks breaking down – but said crew were working overtime "where practical" and that it had brought in trucks from other areas.

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Councillor Chris Willmore, cabinet member for infrastructure, said: "The level of service that we have received from the company has been appalling.

"Residents expect their bins to be collected on time and to be able to communicate with the company when there is an issue."

Recent changes to waste collection services, controversially brought in by the council's Liberal Democrat-Labour administration, include black bins being collected every three weeks instead of every two.

New collection routes have also been introduced.

Opposition Conservatives said the authority had "rushed through" these changes.

"The result has been missed collections, confusion, and unacceptable disruption to an essential service," said Conservative group leader, councillor Liz Brennan.

"It is simply not good enough that families are left with hygiene waste and rotting rubbish piling up outside their homes, particularly in hot weather."

The council said that, while many households had successfully transitioned to the new arrangements, too many residents had experienced a level of service that fell below the standard they reasonably expected and deserved.

It said it would continue to push Suez to resolve the problems and ensure bins were collected on time.

Nick Browning, Suez UK's municipal general manager, said: "I'd like to apologise to all those affected by the disruption and reassure residents that we are working hard with council officers to recover the missed collections."

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