Company determined to hit new targets after missing bin collections

Canterbury City Council has explained why its contractors have regularly missed rubbish bin collections in some areas of the city.

Serco, the company who carry out the work for the past 17 years, has consistently failed to meet its target for the amount of general rubbish, recycling and garden waste collections throughout the city.

Council statistics show the decline in the number of bins being collected between April and September this year.

The report shows the number of missed recycling collections was not within at least 10% of its target, resulting in a number of bins being left behind for next collection.

Rachael, of Brymore Road, commented:

“It’s just all over the floor and it goes all over the road, and people have to pick it up. Where they don’t pick it up, it gets worse and worse.”

However, a council meeting last week showed Serco’s recent improvements within their service in the last few months – by employing more people and additional vehicles to carry out the collections.

A spokesperson from Serco stated: “The issue is with vehicle breakdowns as the weather deteriorates, we have a long period of sustained lower temperatures. It’s not a singular Canterbury problem, it’s an industry-wide problem.”

“We do have additional vehicles, that we never used to have. We have more efficient workshops, we’ve employed more people within. And the turnaround there is a lot quicker than it used to be, which is one of the reasons why the service has improved so dramatically.”

With Christmas just around the corner, the councillors also confirmed that Kent County Council has been liaising with Canterbury City Council to ensure the services will continue to run as efficiently as possible.