Hundreds of bin collections missed after changes

The wards most affected by missed collections were Avonmouth, Lawrence Weston, Redland, Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze

A “damning report” shows how Bristol Waste repeatedly failed to collect rubbish and recycling after route changes.

Three parts of the city in particular have been hit the most with missed collections, leaving residents “angry, upset and annoyed”.

In the summer last year, Bristol City Council told its waste company to cut costs, which in November led to the first major changes to the routes bin men take in over a decade.

This led to them consistently dropping certain roads and missing more collections, a new report has revealed. Bristol Waste and the council are now exploring ways to increase processing capacity at recycling depots.

The wards most affected by missed collections were Avonmouth, Lawrence Weston, Redland, Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze.

Since late May, there were around 200 missed collections reported in each ward.

Councillor Kirsty Tait said at a meeting of the environment policy committee on 26 September: “The report is quite damning. The failings we’ve experienced with Bristol Waste falls back on the council and has a reputational risk."

Another issue is the difficulty many face when reporting that their bins have not been collected.

Councillor Henry Michallat said: “They call Bristol Waste and try to get in touch with somebody, and they don’t get an answer. They get angry, upset and annoyed about it.”

'Learn lessons'

Solutions to the problems include making online reporting easier for missed collections and additional vehicles might be hired from neighbouring councils.

Councillor Martin Fodor, chair of the environment policy committee, said: “The point of the report is not to point blame, it’s to look at what’s being done to address it, to learn lessons, and to make sure actions are being taken.

“We know there’s been a lot of effort to try and improve the reliability of the service, understand what went wrong and what we can learn from that.”