Calderdale Council defends missed recycling and bin collection claims, insisting most are collected on time or next day

The statement comes in response to Calderdale Conservatives running a petition complaining about missed recycling collections this summer.

The petition called on the Labour-led council “to immediately address our missed recycling collections” and said: “We need solutions, not a sticking plaster at the taxpayers' expense.”

The group were also asking for compensation for residents suffering repeated missed collections, with that money to be recovered from the collections contractor.

Councillor Jenny Lynn, the council’s Cabinet member for Public Services and Communities, said most collections were completed on time, although she acknowledged that sometimes issues arose.

“Waste and recycling collection is the biggest service that we provide in terms of volume, with around 140,000 collections from 95,000 households every week.

“On average, 99 per cent of collections are completed on time or within 24 hours of the scheduled collection day, and our priority is to ensure that if a property is missed then it definitely gets a collection the following week.

“Due to the vast scale of the service, we know there can be some issues from time to time, and we understand that these can cause concern for residents.

“In partnership with our contractor, Suez, we always strive to complete collections efficiently and seek to resolve any issues as soon as they are reported to us.”

Coun Lynn said the council appreciated local people’s continued efforts to recycle and do their bit to help the climate emergency.

“To support the hard work of the collection crews, there are ways we can all help to make it easier for them to collect waste and recycling efficiently,” she said.

“Please take care when parking on residential streets, as our large vehicles need space to access properties.

“Please place your waste and recycling containers in an easy-to-reach place on the kerbside, making sure any paper or cardboard is weighted down to make it easier to pick up and to stop it blowing around the neighbourhood.”

Previously, Calderdale councillors have heard amounts of recycling increased greatly during the pandemic when people were at home more.

This year, the council committed money to help contractors Suez increase some pay, aimed at addressing key driver shortages and keep the service on track.