News MBC bringing in extra staff to collect waste & recycling
Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) is working with its waste and recycling contract supplier SUEZ to clear the backlog of collections and has brought in extra staff.
The Council apologises for any inconvenience caused to its residents and is using as many available additional resources to help over the next few weeks to improve the reliability of the service.
The waste and recycling contract began with SUEZ on 25 March after the previous one had ended with supplier BIFFA. This has meant different ways of working for crews and has seen new routes for waste collections being introduced.
The changes have caused issues to the waste and recycling collections across Maidstone. To improve the situation as quickly as possible, MBC and SUEZ have bought in extra staff from other areas, reviewed collections and reallocated work as needed.
Jennifer Stevens, Head of Environment and Public Realm at MBC said:
“We want to assure residents that the Council is working with SUEZ to help put right the current problems with the waste collections in Maidstone in the last few days and have brought in additional resources to help improve the service as quickly as possible.”
Since the new waste contract began collection teams have been working as hard as possible trying to learn the new routes, vehicles and systems to make the service as efficient as possible. The Council continues to monitor the situation on a daily basis.
Jennifer continued:
“Crews have been getting used to the routes, trucks and technology, and whilst it was anticipated that there would be some issues when the new service was introduced, the different ways of working have caused problems that weren’t expected.“MBC apologises for any inconvenience this has caused. We are working as hard as we can to correct any issues as quickly as possible and would like to thank residents for their continued support and understanding as the contract with SUEZ is being rolled out and some collections are taking longer than normal.”
The Maidstone waste and recycling collection crews will be working again this Saturday 13 April as they have done over the past two weekends.
Residents are being reminded that the week and day of their collections may have changed, including those subscribed for garden waste collections.
To find out their bin collection day go to the MBC website: https://maidstone.gov.uk/bin-day