Bin disruption leads to review and recommendations

The contract to collect waste across Swale has been reviewed after several months of disruption led to the creation of a "recovery plan".

The company Suez took over the contract in March 2024.

Swale Borough Council set up a cross-party working group to try to deal with the issues, after the authority issued an apology in May.

It said most of the district's collections had now returned to normal.

The review involved interviews with staff from both the council and Suez, as well as comments from more than 2,000 Swale residents.

It has made 23 recommendations to improve the service.

These include better training, a review of staff resourcing and more scrutiny.

Rich Lehmann, chairman of the environment and climate change committee, chaired the review.

He said: "Whilst the changes being introduced at the start of the contract meant that some disruption was expected, the scale and duration of the disruption was far greater than we had anticipated.

"With any project of this scale, it is important to look at what went wrong, what went well, and to make sure lessons are learned to help inform future changes.

"We hope this provides an honest explanation of the causes of the disruption for residents who have patiently endured this period of poor service.

"I'd like to thank everyone who has worked incredibly hard to get the service up to an acceptable level of performance, the public for their patience and feedback, and my fellow councillors who helped compile this report."

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