As the rollout of the new Better Recycling service continues, East Suffolk Council is providing ongoing advice to residents about food waste collections.
While the other new collection streams, including separate containers for paper and cardboard, are progressing smoothly, the food waste element is encountering issues which are temporarily impacting the service.
Most residents are receiving weekly collections of food waste on time. However, we are aware that some rounds are not being completed because of technical problems with the brand-new specialist vehicles - while, at the same time, crews adapt to the new service processes.
This led to some collections being missed last week. However, all collections that were not undertaken, will be picked up this week.
As this bedding-in continues, residents are asked to continue placing their large food waste caddies out, as normal, on their assigned day for collection, with the handle UP to lock it.
However, if the caddy is not emptied, residents should bring it back in from kerbside and store with the other larger bins. Locations which are missed will then receive a collection on their assigned day the following week.
This means that while most collections are to take place as planned, all residents can at least have certainty that their large food waste caddies will be emptied every two weeks, as a minimum, while issues are resolved.
With this in mind, the Council is asking residents not to report missed food waste collections.
If the large caddy becomes full during this period, and there is further food waste to dispose of, residents are welcome to place this in their general waste bin for collection.
Cllr Paul Ashton, Cabinet Member for Operations, said: “I am pleased our separate collection of paper and cardboard and the addition of glass jars and bottles, drinks cartons and soft plastics to the containers collection are both running well. However, the food waste collection service is an entirely new operation, utilising different technology.
“Given the logistical considerations, it is a challenge to hit the ground running immediately for 120,000 households in the district, and this has been compounded by some technical issues with the new vehicles which has added to collection delays.
“We are frustrated by this, but we are working hard to resolve the remaining issues and ensure our residents understand what they can expect and when during this bedding-in period.“So, by providing reassurance that residents will receive a fortnightly food waste collection service, as a bare minimum during these early stages, we can provide some certainty for the time being.”
In addition, the council is close to completing delivery to households who have not yet received their bins. Residents only need to report this once and we will get to them as soon as possible.
For other waste collection questions, residents are kindly asked to only contact the council about any issues if they have not done so already. Repeated enquiries can cause further delays.
Cllr Ashton added: “Given the changes, we are incredibly grateful for the positive way that our communities have adopted the new service which will enable households to recycle more and reduce the amount of residual waste to be disposed of.
“The majority of collections are taking place smoothly and successfully, but the hard work will continue to ensure this becomes the case for every household."
More information about the new food waste collection service.
