Torbay Mayor blasts “unacceptable” bin confusion

The Mayor of Torbay has branded the confusion surrounding the roll-out of the new waste and recycling collection service in the South West unitary authority as “unacceptable”.

However, Mayor Nick Bye did stress that there had also been a “positive response” to the service and he said that he believed the joint venture delivering the service – known as Tor2 – was now past the issues that “bogged down” its initial roll-out.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, the Mayor was commenting on the council's move from a fortnightly commingled recycling collection to a weekly, source-separated recycling and food waste collection under a new £130 million services contract with Norwich-based May Gurney (see letsrecycle.com story).

The new service, which is now in its third week, began on September 6 but was beset by an “unprecedented” number of calls to the council from residents about the change, which led to Tor2 drafting in additional call centre staff to help manage calls (see letsrecycle.com story).

Commenting on the residents' response, the Mayor said that he did not know of any local authority that had not faced issues implementing a new system, although he was still concerned about the issues being faced in Torbay.

The Mayor said: “There are some people who haven't had new bins delivered yet and there are some residents who haven't had any collections for three weeks, which is totally unacceptable, and then there are some missed bins and people requesting assistance.”

“It has been poorly communicated and I have been trying to explain what we have got to do and why we have got to do it. But we got bogged down and there were issues around the bay, with a lot of people being reticent to change.”

Contractor

The Mayor refused to criticise May Gurney for its handling of the logistical elements but said that he thought that the design of the roll-out had not taken into account the diverse topography of the region, which includes historical buildings, narrow roadways and split-level properties.

“What I want to do is for the message to get out that we are working as a partnership, it is a partnership with May Gurney not just for waste but for all our services. And, they are doing a very good job on street cleansing and parks and greens and this system is just not going as well as such for the first few weeks,” he said.

And, Mr Bye also voiced concerns that the local authority would have been made to look like a “laughing stock” in the wake of mainstream media interest from The Daily Mail, The Daily Express and ITV. However, he felt confident that this had not been the case.

On the ground, the Mayor claimed that there had been pockets of local opposition but discussions with residents had yielded support for the service change as well.

He said: “I am someone who is out and who is visible, and every week I do a caravan consultation event in the high street and with the newspaper building up [the issues surrounding the roll-out] I was nervous and thought I might get beaten up but that wasn't the case. It was nothing like that, there were more positive comments and a few people requesting help.”

“Comprehensive”

Responding to the Mayor's comments, Tor2 refuted the claim that the operation had been poorly communicated to residents and stated that 80% of residents were participating in the scheme by the end of the second week.

A spokesman told letsrecycle.com: “Tor2 has invested in one of the most comprehensive communications campaigns ever seen in Torbay and May Gurney has worked in close partnership with Torbay council to ensure residents are notified about the new service and how it works.”

The spokesman pointed to the range of leaflets, letters, calendars and adverts commissioned by Tor2 to alert residents to the change, coupled with press releases, radio phone-ins, websites and social networking sites, doorstep initiatives, council meetings and school engagements.

And, the joint venture company also stressed that “extensive surveys and consultations” had been undertaken regarding the streets and properties of the area. The spokesman added: “While the topography of Torbay is challenging it is not abnormal for the UK, and the vehicles and services have been designed to cope.”

Furthermore, Tor2 said it would continue to evaluate the service as it was rolled out and was currently offering assisted bin lifts to 7,000 properties, with a further 3,000 applications for assistance due to be processed shortly.