Waste collections in 'deepening crisis' throughout Milton Keynes, say Conservative councillors

Local Conservatives have today demanded answers to five big questions affecting MK’s waste services
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They say the local waste situation is in a deepening crisis, with delays to black sacks being collected and the suspension of green bin collections.

But Labour council leaders have hit back, calling the Tories "pathetic" for making a fuss when waste collectors have been dogged by Covid and weather problems.

The Conservatives are complaining that thousands of households have seen delays to collection of regular waste (black sacks) in recent weeks, with some areas seeing bags left piling in the streets.

Rubbish is piling up on city streetsRubbish is piling up on city streets
Rubbish is piling up on city streets

Collection of green bins (food and garden waste) were suspended across the entire borough earlier this month due to soaring levels of self-isolation among Serco's waste crews plus ongoing vehicle maintenance problems.

Conservative environment spokesperson Councillor Dan Gilbert said waste collection overruns peaked at 20,000 properties (18% of households in the borough) before this suspension eased the pressure on workers.

MK’s Deputy Director of Public Health, Oliver Mytton, has already been drafted in to review Covid-safety measures following the tragic death of two Serco waste operatives.

Last Autumn, local Conservatives warned that waste services would come under huge pressure this winter and urged the Labour-run council to pause its new wheelie bin pilot to minimise disruption. The trial involves hundreds of households in selected parts of MK being issued with several different coloured wheelie bins to use.

The pilot wheelie bin trial is running as normalThe pilot wheelie bin trial is running as normal
The pilot wheelie bin trial is running as normal

"It has since emerged that the pilot area has been protected from service delays, despite the crisis affecting services across the rest of the borough," said Cllr Gilbert.

"Today, we are calling on the Cabinet Member to get a grip of waste services and provide answers to residents and our hard-working waste crews," he said.

The questions are:

1. How much time and resource went into protecting the wheelie bin pilot and what is the difference between service levels in the pilot area compared to the rest of the borough?

Another pile of rubbishAnother pile of rubbish
Another pile of rubbish

2. What is the plan for getting green bin collections back up and running, and how much food and garden waste has been lost to landfill rather than sent for energy generation?

3. What are the terms of the public health review into waste services and what is already being done to protect Serco and members of the public?

4. How is MK Council going to improve its communication to residents to minimise confusion and disruption in future?

5. What consultation have they undertaken with the public to justify a permanent booking system for the tips?

Cllr Gilbert said: “Covid has put huge pressure on all services, but the current waste crisis has been exacerbated by a terrible failure of political leadership.

“The thousands of MK households that have seen rubbish piling in the street will want to know why the Labour Cabinet stubbornly pushed ahead with its controversial waste trial when their focus should have been protecting essential services during the second wave.

“They need to get a grip of our waste services and provide urgent answers to these questions.”

Labour leader Pete Marland did not mince his words in replying to the Tories.

He said: "The MK Conservative leadership is pathetic, disgraceful and beneath contempt. They have no moral compass and are utterly shameless.

"It is a tragedy that two Serco employees have lost their lives to Covid-19 and over the past couple of weeks our contractor has had up to 50 per cent of refuse collectors self isolating, waiting for test results or ill. On top of that the snow, ice and cold weather meant that there were extra delays to collections last week."

Pete added: "Collections have returned to normal this week as more staff have returned to work, but around 10 per cent of households still have some disruption from a missed collection. The council are aiming to collect as much of the backlog as possible, but impacted residents have been asked to bring in their rubbish until their next normal bin day if they can, and should not pile rubbish into one area. We will also be putting on extra street cleaning to deal with any residual mess.

"The MK Conservatives questions are a jumble of unrelated nonsense. I know their priority seems to be restarting garden waste collection - in the middle of winter - above the safety of workers. Their obsession green bins is weird, but provides an insight into their political, rather than practical, priorities as hundreds a day die during a pandemic their government has criminally mishandled.”