Labour councillors demand urgent action on recycling collections

Crews on recycling rounds were moved on to domestic and garden waste routes

Labour councillors have said regular recycling collections in North East Lincolnshire must resume or they will call a special meeting of the council.

Collections were suspended from 31 July to clear a backlog of waste.

Labour group leader Kath Wheatley said it was not good enough for Conservative council leader Philip Jackson to sit back "while bins overflow".

Mr Jackson said the council was working on contingency plans in case there was no quick resolution with unions.

Ms Wheatley said: "It's simple - either Councillor Jackson gets a grip on this mess, or he faces the council.

"How can he sit back while bins overflow, targets are missed, and residents suffer?"

North East Lincolnshire Council asked residents not to put out recycling between Monday 31 July and Friday 11 August, as the bins would not be emptied.

'Pointing fingers'

Seven recycling crews were moved on to other duties to help clear a backlog of household waste and the council said on Monday those routes were almost up to date and being collected on time.

Ms Wheatley said the authority's inability to handle a dispute with refuse employees had left rubbish on the streets.

"Councillor Jackson seems more content pointing fingers than finding solutions," she said.

"It's an abdication of responsibility of the highest order. Our residents deserve answers and action, not excuses."

She said if collections were not restored by the end of August, she would request a special council meeting to discuss the issue.

In response, Mr Jackson said he would not "take any lessons from Labour on bin collections".

He said that some of the loading crews had "unexpectedly changed their well-established working practices without notifying the council", leading to slower collections, adding the council was talking to unions to try and resolve the matter.

"When the Conservatives took control of the council in 2019, the waste and recycling collection service was inefficient and unreliable with abysmally low recycling rates," he said."We had to literally clear up Labour's mess."