Low recruitment, staff sickness and vehicle breakdowns were among a catalogue of problems which led to rubbish piling up and bins going unemptied for weeks across a borough.
Complaints soared and council staff faced “unacceptable” levels of abuse as frustrations grew over the service when a new firm took over the service, according to a probe into the failings.
The findings of an investigation into waste company Suez have been published
The lengthy document is due to be discussed at a council meeting tonight (Wednesday), when councillors will examine the findings of the inquiry into the contract awarded to Suez, which led to frustration for many people in Sittingbourne, Faversham and on Sheppey.
The environment and climate change committee will review the report and discuss the recommendations proposed.
It comes after residents across the borough went weeks without collections after Suez took on the £152 million Mid-Kent Waste Partnership contract last March.
The company has come under fire for its performance after it was revealed there had been 36,468 reports of missed collections.
In July, it was revealed that Suez was to be penalised after a three-month grace period ended on June 25.
An investigation was then launched in August due to the continued disruption.
A bin store in Hedley Walk, Church Street, Sittingbourne was overflowing with rubbish. Picture: Sarah Barnes
Committee chairman Cllr Rich Lehmann (Green) led the scrutiny review.
In the report, he said: “We have interviewed council officers and Suez representatives, and have gone through vast amounts of documents and data to examine the different aspects of the project.
“The scope of this work ranged from the early stages of preparing the initial tender, right up to the mobilisation and the subsequent response to the disruption.”
Other members of the panel included Cllr Chris Palmer (Swale Ind), Cllr Hannah Perkin (Lib Dem), Cllr Julien Speed (Con) and Cllr Dolley Wooster (Lab).
In September, the council launched a survey asking residents about missed bin collections and if they were happy with the new service.
The scrutiny review was lead by Cllr Rich Lehmann, chairman of the environment and climate change committee
More than 2,100 people completed the form and a summary of the results has been included in the final report.
Over the past five months, resources and staff, data and rounds, contracts and project management as well as communications, both internal and external, have been evaluated.
The document first looked into the recruitment struggles, which were particularly difficult for the Swale depot.
Suez said that staff sickness had been “higher than anticipated”.
Despite this, there was a back-up group to call upon, which included two drivers and four loaders as well as agency staff if needed.
Sittingbourne’s Andy Duffus put a sign outside his home to show how long he’d had to wait for collections. Picture: Becci Duffus
Bin workers said there was also some confusion over the use of new technology during training.
As a result, it has been recommended that a “phased approach” is used next time to minimise the disruption of service.
In the public survey, it emerged that the biggest perceived problem was the inefficiency of the rounds, in particular the routes and vehicles used.
Swale council hired 23 new lorries during the changeover.
Using the old fleet was initially considered an option but as the vehicles were not owned by the authority, this was not possible.
A new fleet of 23 bin lorries were hired during the changeover. Picture: paulbox
However, some had to be temporarily taken out of service due to mechanical and technological breakdowns.
This, combined with the change of collection routes, caused several problems for residents.
“There were conversations with crews about the suitability of rounds, but they weren’t driven in totality,” the report says.
“The expectation that the routes would be pre-driven was not in the contract but there is a line in the tender document saying they would undertake route risk assessments, which officers from all three councils in the partnership were under the impression they would be pre-driven.
“Suez said they didn’t have anyone with local knowledge to sense check the rounds and initially the data was not available.
Frustrations mounted in Great Easthall as bins were missed during rounds. Picture: Hollie Wells
“They said that a lesson they have learnt for future new contracts is to employ someone to drive the routes.”
There were also reports of access problems in some areas due to parked vehicles blocking junctions, road closures and difficulties accessing communal bins.
A collection was missed over the festive period in Great Easthall after several cars made it impossible for a crew to turn into a road.
It resulted in one person driving to the tip to drop off her overflowing rubbish.
Staff at the council’s Customer Service Centre (CSC) then had to deal with the “unprecedented” number of questions and complaints from residents.
A meeting will be held at Swale House in Sittingbourne to discuss the findings. Picture: Swale council
Around four or five people are on-call every day but not all are full-time.
Despite this, the document reported that the team “felt like they could cope with any queries”.
It added: “The impact on staff in the CSC was huge. Some experienced and valuable members of staff resigned and recruiting and training new staff takes time.
“The level of abuse staff received on the telephones was unacceptable.”
In hindsight, the authority believes there should have been extra workers trained and in place before the contract started.
‘The level of abuse staff received on the telephones was unacceptable’
It also went on to say “worst-case scenarios” weren’t considered or looked at early enough and an apology from the council leader and chief executive should have “gone out sooner” to homeowners.
Some meetings discussing the problems became confrontational due to the frustration of councillors, and reflected that next time there will be no “blame culture”.
Click here for the full waste and street cleansing contract scrutiny review report.
A meeting looking into the investigation and points made in the document will take place at 7pm on Wednesday (January 15) in Swale House, Sittingbourne.