An unexpected demand for extra recycling boxes has seen Veolia issue more than 3,400 to residents in Sutton following the start of its contract to manage waste and recycling services in the London borough.
The introduction of the new service on April 3 has also caused some disruption for householders in the borough, with a number of collections and container deliveries missed last week.
More than 3,400 additional green recycling boxes have been distributed to residents since the start of Veolia’s new service in Sutton
Nevertheless, the contractor and the council were said to be pleased at the interest in recycling with higher recycling targets featuring in the new contract. Extra crews and vehicles have also been mobilised this week to help with the start of the contract.
Over 1,000 residents collected new green recycling boxes from a collection point at a local B&Q store on Saturday (April 8) following ‘higher than anticipated’ demand, according to the council.
A total of 3,400 containers were distributed, Veolia has said, although some residents were unhappy that they had to wait over two hours to collect a new container – sparking disputes in queues of residents waiting for boxes.
The new service, previously carried out in-house, has seen the introduction of separate weekly food waste collection, alternate weekly collections of dry recyclables, with paper and card collected on one week and tins, plastics and glass the next, and fortnightly collections for residual waste.
Veolia is providing services in Sutton as part of its contract with the South London Waste Partnership (SLWP). The contract sees Veolia manage services on behalf of four South London boroughs, and is worth around £209 million over a period of eight years.
Veolia has taken over waste services in Sutton and Merton, and also furthered existing links with Kingston and Croydon councils. The company is working to deliver a consistent service across all four of the boroughs by 2019. Merton’s new service will be rolled out next year.
Transition
Scott Edgell, general manager for Veolia South London said that the company is continuing to roll out the new service across Sutton and is ‘working hard’ to complete the transition process quickly.
The company is working with the council and residents to resolve any issues “as smoothly as possible”, he said, adding: “On Saturday we arranged for residents to pick up free green recycling boxes as part of the service change. The event was very well attended with over 1,150 keen recyclers taking part. We distributed 3,450 green recycling boxes to residents providing them with significant additional recycling capacity and everyone left with at least one box.
“We thank people for their patience and apologise for the inconvenience the introduction of these new services has caused.”
[gallery_placement]In a statement on the handover of the service on Monday (April 10) the council said: “Sutton council, as a member of the South London Waste Partnership working with Veolia UK, is introducing a new recycling and rubbish collection service to almost 90,000 homes in the borough.
“The service started Monday April 3 and for the first time offers food waste and battery and textile recycling to most households, as well as alternate weekly recycling collections and an industry-standard fortnightly rubbish collection.
“In anticipation of extra demand for recycling containers we arranged for extra containers to be made available at B&Q Sutton on Saturday 8 April. Unfortunately the demand for these containers was higher than expected. We understand the frustration this must have caused. We thank everyone who waited patiently and apologise for the long queues. We also thank B&Q for their understanding.”
Response
Councillor Manuel Abellan, vice chair of the council’s environment and neighbourhood committee apologised to residents ‘unreservedly’ for the issues affecting the roll out of the service
He said: “The standard of service has not been up to the quality that residents have rightly come to expect. Residents should have confidence their bin collections are taken on the correct date, and they are given the containers they need to recycle. We’ve organised extra crews and collections with Veolia to get the borough ready for this week’s collections.
“On Saturday Veolia had thousands of green boxes and a plan in place to restock as needed. The huge demand caught them off guard. It is unacceptable that people had to queue for so long. I thank residents for bearing with us while the new arrangements bed in.”
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
