Council 'furious' over more Windsor and Maidenhead missed bin collections

Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead said missed bins would be emptied on Wednesday

A council has said it is "furious" after a waste collection firm failed to catch up on missed bin collections.

Some residents in The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead have not had their bins emptied for weeks since weekly collections resumed on 17 August.

The council said it gave service provider Serco a "clean start" but only about 70% were emptied on Monday.

The firm said it had deployed extra vehicles and was considering evening collections to catch up.

Weekly collections resumed in the borough on 17 August, following temporary fortnightly collections during the Covid-19 crisis.

David Coppinger, the authority's head of waste, said the council had been assured by Serco that it would be able to catch up on missed collections.

'Service unacceptable '

He said: "It looked like it was going alright - but towards the end of the week a number of residents were stating their bins had not been emptied for many weeks despite reports from Serco that the routes were completed.

"Yesterday was the big day and was very disappointing. They had an agreement to do routes in reverse order so that people that were missed last week were the first ones to be cleared - they didn't do it.

"Every single resident is furious, and I'm furious, because I've got thousands of residents telling me they are furious!"

On Twitter Paul Heelas said: "No collection on the 7th but a promise to collect on the 14th. No collection on the 14th but another promise to collect on the 16th! We now have three types of bin awaiting collection......."

Becky Downes posted: "This is ridiculous. Second Monday of no collections. The flies are having a great time. This is just not good enough."

The council said: "The level of service has been unacceptable, and a drastic improvement is required immediately."

It added residents in roads that did not receive a waste or recycling collection on Monday should leave their bins out for collection on Wednesday.

Katy Bassett, Serco's regional director for Environmental Services, said the firm was working hard to resolve issues with collections.

She said: "We have an additional four vehicles and crews out this week. In addition, our crews may be out collecting up until 19:00 going forward."