Frustration around Suffolk councils' new bin scheme
Resident says bin "swarming with ants and flies" (Image: Anonymous)
Food bins have been left "swarming with ants and flies" after failing to be collected in a chaotic first week of a new multi-million pound recycling scheme.
The Better Recycling initiative launched on Monday (June 1) and has been rolled out across the county and country.
The initiative will provide a new 240-litre wheelie bin - grey with a green lid - and a light grey food caddie to improve recycling rates and prevent cross-contamination of different recyclables.
However, homeowners living in the East Suffolk area have hit out at the lack of collection, which started on Tuesday.
In Framlingham, food caddies put out in College Road for the morning of June 2 still remain uncollected four days later.
But householders there can consider themselves among the lucky ones.
Just around the corner in Mount Pleasant, one household hasn't had a food caddy delivered at all.
When they telephoned East Suffolk Council to say they hadn't received one they were told to put out food waste in their old bin.
They telephoned the council twice, the first time they were more than 50th in the queue and the second time 45th. A council worker told them they had received hundreds of complaints.
In Martlesham Heath, another local said: "It’s already swarming with ants and flies, so who knows what it will be like by this time next week.
"The whole thing feels very poorly thought through, especially for people with smaller properties. There doesn’t appear to be any benefits to it whatsoever."
However, residents have expressed their dissatisfaction with the new scheme, with a reader from Beccles reporting seeing a delivery truck drop bins to "only a few houses" before turning round.
A spokesman from East Suffolk Council said the rollout of more than 400,000 new bins in the district had been "an enormous logistical operation".
They said: "However the vast majority of collections have taken place as scheduled so far.
"Given the changes to what is being collected, how and when, and with our crews now following entirely new routes, it is understandable that some collections may take place the following day, and we are asking residents to leave their containers out should they have been missed."
In Babergh and Mid Suffolk districts, more than 200,000 bins will be collected per week.
A spokeswoman said food waste collection crews are learning their rounds but completed more than 90 per cent of scheduled pick-ups, returning the next day if not completed.
A spokeswoman said: "A rollout of this scale across a rural area is obviously a massive challenge, but our teams are working hard to ensure the changes - which will help people to recycle more than ever before - are implemented as smoothly as possible.
"The early signs are encouraging, with residents making use of the new food waste and expanded recycling collections.
"All scheduled large bin collections have been carried out on schedule, apart from where there have been issues beyond our control, such as roadworks or parked cars."
In West Suffolk, the cabinet member for operations said this was the biggest change to services in more than two decades.
Cllr Dave Taylor said: "It is early days, but we are pleased that in the first four days we collected 57,500 kilogrammes of food waste.
“We know there are some households which have yet to receive their green-lidded bin or food waste caddies and we are currently working hard to get these delivered."
Ipswich Borough Council did not respond when approached for comment.
