While the new systems settles down, some common issues are emerging, so we thought we would try and explain what’s happening.

Missed delivery of the red bag.

If your road is NOT on the list of roads on this website (check here) then you should have a red bag.  Contact us if you do not.
The teams delivering the red bags do not know the rounds as well as our collectors. You will be surprised how many doorways / entrances are hard to find, or properties that have no number on them or can only be accessed down an alley way. Let us know.
Out of almost 60,000 properties delivered to so far, we have only heard of a few hundred  actually being missed and 90% of those have had their bag delivered within ten working days.
The delay in the new scheme coming to some roads is down to the delayed delivery of two trucks and problems with staff recruitment. These issues should be resolved over the coming weeks.

Some items are left in red bag

The bags are weighted and when the collectors empty them into the truck items can get lodged in the folds of the bag. This is a mistake so just leave the items in the bags and they will be collected next time.

Whole bag or box not emptied.

If it has a yellow tag on it this means we had a problem with one or more of the items in the container.
The most common problem we are experiencing is glass in the red bag. Even if you know it’s only one bottle – we don’t. Experience tells us that if we see one glass at the top of the bag there will be others below.
As each collector picks up from more than 350 households every day they do not have the time to sort through individual bags. Unlike the boxes, the plastic and cans are not sorted until they get back to our depot.
It’s hard to believe, but we sometimes get people putting used nappies, broken sheet glass and even used needles in the recycling boxes.
We do occasionally miss a house by mistake. We have changed some of the rounds and our collectors are getting used to new roads they might not know so well. Please ring us and let us know if you recycling has not been collected by 3pm.

Cardboard not collected

We’ve issued guidelines as to how much cardboard we can collect – one green box and one green sack (or equivalent) per week.
Larger quantities need to be taken to the Council Recycling Centre on Docks Way as our trucks are designed for normal every day quantities of cardboard only.
Please remove any expanded polystyrene – sorry but polystyrene cannot be recycled.
Cardboard getting wet is not a serious problem for us – within reason. If totally soaked through then our buyers may reject it because they don’t want to pay for water. Recycling cardboard, however, involves soaking the material in water to create a pulp, so damp cardboard is not a problem.

Collection team seen waiting by the truck!

They will be waiting for the compaction machine to compact the material so they can load more on. This can take up to 40-50 seconds. Each collector will pick up at least two tonnes of material every day – they use this time to catch their breath.

How much is this change costing?

A more detailed explanation of the costs of collecting the way we do can be found here.
  1. New trucks were needed because the old fleet had reached the end of its working life. Replacing the fleet has been the major cost involved. These new trucks, however, are around half the cost of traditional compactor trucks.
  2. The red bags replace the clear sacks and will pay for themselves within a year. This will save the Council more than £35,000 every year.
We hope that gives you some idea of what’s happening and an explanation to some of the issues that have emerged as we go through these changes.