Waste management contractor Veolia is set be fined by Croydon Council for missing an average of 1,800 collections per week in June, with the number of missed collections peaking at nearly 3,000 in one week.
Local media has suggested that the company’s fine could reach £180,000 after the usual weekly average of 530 missed collections was more than tripled over the month.
Many of the issues are believed to be linked to the introduction of Veolia’s new ‘village system’, which had hoped to provide better service to local residents.
Since 1 June waste operatives have been organised into eight teams that each serve a different area of the borough. Each team has one or several trucks on patrol in the area at all times.
The switch to the village system is part of an on-going four-year programme in Croydon to improve waste and recycling services.
It was designed to improve collection services by speeding up responses to issues reported to the council, creating better-planned routes due to local knowledge and improved coordination of staff.
Despite the changes to staff deployment, there has been no change to the waste collected or the number of collections.
It was, however, hoped that by giving staff smaller patches to cover, the recycling rate in the area would improve.
Veolia working through 'period of adjustment'
A spokesperson for Veolia, which signed a 15-year contract with the council in 2003, said: "Whenever we reschedule the refuse and recycling collections on behalf of any local authority, there is always a period of adjustment with increased reported missed collections and enquiries.
"This is a natural part of the process as our crews and the residents we serve adjust to the new rounds. In Croydon, this period of adjustment was expected and the level of enquiries we are receiving is rapidly returning to normal.
"The rescheduling of the collection services will have significant practical and financial benefits for Croydon and in the vast majority of cases changes have been managed smoothly. However, we would like to thank the small proportion of residents who have experienced disrupted services for bearing with us during this time."
Veolia has altered 34 collection rounds in Croydon following the complaints.
Find out more about waste collection in Croydon.
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