Residents frustrated at delayed bin collections

Wycombe District Council started its new service last Monday, October 28- on the same day that a storm hit the town.

It was reported that the collections would be delayed but some residents were still waiting a week later.

The new service means residents can now recycle glass, batteries and even textiles in containers and bags that have been provided..

But many households have been disappointed as the collections have not been taking place at all.

A Walters Ash resident said: "Since Serco began collecting refuse in the High Wycombe area in October, I have had nothing but problems and excuses for the inability of Serco contractors to collect my refuse.

"The move to the new regime in my area (Walters Ash) began on 28 October; however, for some inexplicable reason, my and my neighbours black bins were not emptied on this date."

He said by Monday it was still not collected and to add insult to injury their recyclable waste was not collected either.

Mark Brown from Richard Gardens in High Wycombe said his road seems to have been dropped off collections entirely as there seem to be no smaller lorries which can fit up his road.

He said: "Other readers may complain that the system has been done on the cheap. But at least they get collections. To save money some of us seem to have dropped off the map entirely. How convenient."

A disabled man in Buckmaster Road is still waiting for his collection as is a Great Missenden resident who called into the BFP office. There have also been complaints about the number of bins now needed for the new collection.

Some residents said they do not have enough space for the three wheelie bins, small paper box and food waste bin- although WDC said they will collect bins if residents do not want them.

Other residents have also complained about the switch from wheelie bins to bags- saying that they will be torn by wildlife and make their streets look messy.

Nick Sykes from Wycombe District Council said: "By and large, the roll-out of our new waste and recycling collection service has gone well, although we are aware of a few teething problems which we are dealing with."

He said the council are working hard to resolve any problems and apologised for missed collections and to those residents who have not yet received their new bins.

Mr Sykes said: "We collect rubbish and recycling from 71,000 properties in the district, 66,000 of which will have experienced some changes under the new service. "It’s not unusual with a roll-out on this scale to have higher numbers of calls and enquiries. We anticipated this and recruited extra staff before the 28 October start date to handle these."

He said in the first week the crews had to collect 200,000 containers.

They received reports of 700 missed collections.

He said: "There have been a few issues in this second week, caused in part by a vehicle breakdown and extremely high volumes of recycling which has meant that the trucks have needed to unload more frequently than usual. We expect that this will now level out, but it does show that a comprehensive recycling service was needed in the district and is being received positively.

"Where missed collections are being reported, supervisors are checking and we are confident these will be resolved quickly. Furthermore, we are delivering bins to those homes which didn’t receive them in the main delivery, as and when we are notified by the householder."

Mr Sykes added: "It is with regret that 100 properties in the district which previously had bins have had to be placed on sack collections. We do sympathise with these residents, but all properties were double-checked and we concluded that we had no option. The nature of the access to these homes meant vehicles and verges were becoming damaged, which in fairness to both residents and contractors could not continue. The cost of providing a vehicle specifically to serve these 100 properties would be £150,000 a year, which would not be viable."