The ongoing delays of getting new bins to all households on the Isle of Wight continues. Ed
Amey is working to ensure that any households missing new recycling and waste bins or gull proof sacks will be completed by Sunday of this week.
During the past month, Amey has delivered 62,430 black wheeled bins, 10,141 green wheeled bins and 3,845 gull sacks across the Island as part of its new waste partnership with Isle of Wight Council.
Amey account director Paul Southall said:
“As may be expected with a rollout of this size across the whole Island, inevitably a limited number of households may not have received their recycling and waste bins on time. We apologise to anyone who has experienced this and can assure you our teams have been working hard to make sure your bins get to you.”
1,230 requests for reassessment
As part of the introduction of the new collection service, Amey has also to date received 1,230 requests for reassessment – which have required a visit to homes.
Paul added:
“As of Monday 23 May, we have completed almost three quarters of these. The remaining 423 requests for reassessment are due to be completed by the end of the week, and residents will receive their appropriate bin or sack shortly after this.
“There are also a further 389 requests which are a mixture of new container requests, additional container requests, reassessments, requests for a larger bin or request for a smaller bin.
“In addition to the roll out of new bins and gull proof sacks, we have also been responding to requests for new food caddies. It’s great news that people are wanting these so they can help recycle more, but it does mean the team has been busy dealing with these additional requests too; for example, over the past month 1,321 requests for food caddies have been received and are currently being processed. We’ve had to order more caddies from our supplier to meet this new demand, which is on top of the rest of the extensive rollout of wheeled bins and gull proof sacks.”
Contractual requirements
There are contractual requirements to deliver the new waste receptacles on time. Amey undertook a property visual survey of all Island properties during January and February 2016, to assess individual household needs for receiving either new wheeled bins or gull-proof sacks.
Amey and the Isle of Wight Council will be investigating why a limited number of households did not receive their receptacles within the originally defined period, once all requests for different allocations have been responded to.
Residents thanked for patience
Executive member for environment, Councillor Paul Fuller said:
“We understand the frustration that some residents are expressing and Amey are working hard to fix the problem. They have assured us that they are working flat out to deliver the small remainder as soon as possible; this is an essential priority to ensure that the new changes can be completely implemented and start to improve the Island’s recycling rates, as was the ambition of the implementation of the changes in the first place.
“I would like to thank residents that have really taken on board the recycling message and have taken to the new procedures without any problem. I would also like to thank those residents, who are in the minority, who have not had the appropriate receptacles for their patience whilst Amey works hard to resolve this as soon as possible.”
£1m saving per annum
The council waste contract procurement project set out to achieve a saving of £1million per contract year through the process of letting a new recycling and waste contract.
This saving has been achieved and will help to support the continued provision of key essential services, such as children’s and adult social care. A key part of achieving this saving is from reducing the amount of recyclable and compostable waste in the rubbish bags and therefore the cost of waste to landfill.
The council and Amey are also dedicated to education and encouraging more recycling, including:
- providing a new waste information booklet to all households with an updated list of what can and cannot be recycled
- a new textile recycling service that began from 2 May
- running an ongoing schools education programme to promote recycling to pupils
- an innovative mobile recycling centre is also being introduced that will visit towns across the Island
- look out for details of the recycling roadshows that will be touring the Island in the coming months, in collaboration with the Footprint Trust.
