Suez began a new waste and recycling collection contract with the authority in August, which saw the company introduce 17 new recycling vehicles for the collection of a wider range of materials from householders – including plastic pots, tubs and trays and small waste electrical items.
However, according to the council the start of the new service has been beset by issues including repeated missed collections, particularly in rural areas, as well as delays to bulky waste collections and recycling container deliveries.
The west Yorkshire district incorporates the large town of Halifax, as well as more rural areas around Hebden Bridge – covering around 88,000 households in total. Residents receive a weekly recycling collection service, which includes a multi-stream collection of glass and cardboard, plastic and metal cans, and newspapers, magazines and cartons. Food waste is also collected weekly, although residual waste is collected fortnightly.
Penalties
The council met with Suez last week (20 September) to discuss the issues in detail and to reiterate the need for a prompt solution.
According to the council, Suez has been working to get the service back to normal, but as there are still problems for some residents, under the agreed contract arrangements it is introducing financial penalties until the issues are resolved and Suez meets its obligations.
Commenting on the scope of the penalties, a council spokesperson said: “Calderdale Council is activating deduction clauses in the contract while at the same time working constructively with Suez on improving collection reliability. The contract is radical and ambitious in its intent and both the Council and Suez are committed to its ultimate success.”
Calderdale
Cllr Barry Collins, Calderdale council’s cabinet member for regeneration and economic development, said: “Our number one priority is our residents, so we must take strong action to ensure they get the service that they expect and are paying for.
“The issues have gone on for too long, so this has left us with no option but to impose financial penalties, which will be used to fund extra community clean ups around Calderdale to benefit the whole borough. We continue to press Suez for the level of service that they have delivered in the past.”
The council has said it continues to do all it can to respond to residents’ enquiries and is highlighting affected properties to the collection crews to try to ensure that future scheduled collections are carried out as expected.
New technology is being introduced in all recycling vehicles, including an automated reminder of homes needing assisted collections, which should also help to keep the service on track, the council has said.
Suez
In a statement, Suez said that the shake-up of recycling and waste services “has seen new routes, vehicles, collections systems and IT systems introduced.”
It continued: “Our priority throughout the mobilisation has been to minimise disruption and, during the first four weeks of the service, the success rate for completed household collections of recycling and residual waste was 98.7 and 98% respectively and, in September, rose to 99.7 and 99.5%.
“With a complete overhaul of services such as this, we would normally expect to have to rectify a few issues, as new systems are introduced and as crews learn their new routes.”
The statement concluded: “What has undoubtedly been frustrating for some residents is an isolated number of incidents in which the same properties have been missed more than once and we apologise sincerely for this.
“We’re working to an action plan to rectify these issues as quickly as possible and, since the start of the mobilisation process, have employed additional resource whenever and wherever necessary to complete collections and resolve issues as they arise.”
Suez – formerly Sita – was originally awarded the Calderdale recycling contract in 2008.
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