Dudley's recycling collection late again as teething troubles continue
Delays to collecting recycling continues, as new scheme enters fourth week
Bin collections in Dudley are running late again for the fourth week running since a new recycling service was launched at the start of the month.
Collections of the new blue recycling bins and the paper and card bags were running a day late again in the Northway area of Sedgley, although the food waste caddies were collected on time.
Nick McGurk, group director communities and growth, said the higher-than-expected uptake of the service had contributed to continued delays, but crews were working round the clock to catch up.
Last week the matter was raised in the House of Commons by Stourbridge MP Cat Eccles.
Local councils have been obliged by law to provide a standardised recycling service, including weekly collections of food waste, since the start of the month, although a number of councils in the West Midlands, including Walsall and Wolverhampton, have yet to comply.
Mr McGurk thanks residents for their support, and apologised for the delays.
“The majority of our food collections are now running to schedule, but due to the huge demands and large scale changes involved, we know there is still a percentage of households waiting for dry recycling collections,” he said.
“We are operating seven days this week, with full waste crews, and we have significantly strengthened this work by bringing in further staff from our street-scene service and other council teams to support collections and deliveries.
“Since commencing the roll out earlier this month we have collected more than 500 tons of food waste but we are asking residents who have not had their food waste emptied to leave it out for our crews who will get to it as soon as possible.
“The outstanding take-up of the new service has meant we have more waste than we anticipated but we are working tirelessly to resolve these issues. We apologise for delays but again thank residents for such a great effort recycling food waste.”
Residents with queries about outstanding collections or bins can email [email protected]
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