Recycling and waste collection rounds across Swale are being updated to provide a more reliable service.
Around 1 in 8 households will have a change in the day their waste is collected and will receive a letter confirming their new days.
The council’s contract with SUEZ has been running for almost six months, and while improvements have been made, the service is not yet performing as well as expected.
To address this, a thorough review has been carried out to identify the remaining areas for improvement. This looked at factors such as the number of properties on a round, vehicle access issues, and the types of vehicles being used on rounds.
Changes are being made to address these issues with some rebalancing of collections throughout the week, along with some changes to routes, and the types of vehicles used.
Cllr Rich Lehmann, chair of the council’s Environment and Climate Change Committee, said:
“We know the contract has got off to a rocky start, and we sincerely apologise for the disruption and frustration people have suffered.
“We have spent a considerable amount of time and effort working to improve collections, but it’s clear that to make the final push to reach the level of service we want, we must make some changes to the rounds.
“The majority of people will continue to have the same collections on the same day as now, but it may be at an earlier or later time in the day.
“Around 1 in 8 will have a change to either their day of collection, the week for each type of collection, or both.
“We know this isn’t ideal, and the changes are likely to cause some short-term disruption, but we believe this will help us move the service towards where we need it to be.
“We are writing to those households affected to let them know their new days, and what the arrangements are during the transition. If you haven’t received a letter, then there will be no changes to your collection.”
The day changes may mean some households will receive the same type of collection two weeks in a row during the transition period.
It is important to note that the garden waste and clinical waste services will remain unaffected by these changes.
The council's website will continue to display the current collection schedule until after the last scheduled collection before the changes take effect.
Swale Borough Council
