Milton Keynes Council's waste collection contractor, Serco, have told MKFM they are using 'additional vehicles' to attempt to clear 'significant backlog' of rubbish caused by missed bin collections last week.
In a statement to MKFM, the Council said: “Milton Keynes Council and our contractor SERCO apologise for the delay to waste collections over the holiday period."
“SERCO are using additional vehicles and crews to try and get back on schedule. Residents should continue to place their refuse out for collection on the Christmas and New Year revised dates as advertised. Despite our efforts to clear the current backlog, if refuse is not collected on the revised date it will be collected the following day. We will be using our social media to keep people up to date from tomorrow."
“Unfortunately the backlog has been created due to several problems with vehicles on 27th and 28th December, and we were not able to collect all the properties planned on each day. This has left us with a significant backlog not being collected on the planned date and being collected the day after. As we had already scheduled collections for Saturdays we have not been able to catch up during the holiday week. We would like to remind residents that refuse should only be placed out for collection on the pre-advertised alternative day and we are doing all we can to get back on schedule."
“Throughout the period the food and garden waste rounds have achieved completion on time.”
Leader of Milton Keynes Council, Cllr Peter Marland, has told MKFM: “The most important thing is getting the backlog cleared, and I’ve also asked for extra street cleaning resources for areas that have had missed collections. Our refuse collectors do a great job and have been working very hard to get us back on track even before Christmas since the bad weather a few weeks ago, and they deserve thanks. I’m also determined we will look into at what has gone wrong and what can be done to avoid it happening again. The situation has not been acceptable at all.”
MKFM first reported issues with the bin collections on Sunday, with hundreds of residents being left without a bin collection during the peak rubbish season.
