New recycling scheme has 'deep systemic failures' says county councillor

Llangollen county councillor Karen Edwards has issued the following statement about the troubled introduction of Denbighshire's new waste recycling system:

"I have been closely monitoring the unfolding issues related to the collection of waste after the introduction of the new rollout service across the county on June 3.

"Last Thursday, June 13 I attended an online Emergency Teams meeting with DCC officers along with many other County Councillors where the issues related to the rollout of the service were discussed.

"It is abundantly clear that this scheme has not gone as planned and what has been described as 'teething issues' are being created by deeper systemic failures which include but are not limited to a lack of adequate capacity for the segregated waste streams in the new collection vehicles as well as the significantly extended time spent by operatives having to manually handle and empty the new trolibocs containers and sacks into the vehicles.

"As a result collections are being stopped earlier than planned as vehicles reach capacity in one compartment and further collections for that day are often not completed due to time constraints and vehicles having to return to base. Attempts to clear the backlogs have not been successful either. This has been compounded by two of the vehicles resourced for the service breaking down in the first week and thus not being available for service. Additional collections are being planned and more resources are being sought to help alleviate the issues.

"I made my unhappiness, frustration and disappointment perfectly clear to the CEO and his officers at the meeting and expressed my concern that collectively they were not taking the systemic issues seriously and focussing simply on quick fix sticking plaster solutions to ease the current situation rather than seeking to identify the root causes that have resulted in the roll out of the service failing to deliver effectively for many residents, not only in Llangollen but the entire County, compounded by communication and reporting issues.

"DCC has indicated that they expect it will take around 12 weeks for the new system to be running smoothly, which is disappointing considering that despite several years of planning there are far more issues than the officers expected, notwithstanding the fact that the Lead Member has been on the project board for just over two years.

"County Councillors have now been assigned a direct link to a designated officer for each area in order to communicate local area issues with regard to failed collections. Whether this particular course of action actually results in clearing the backlog of waste remains to be seen.

"If you are still experiencing issues this next week after the designated collection days which are Tuesday and Wednesday, please contact me either via Ffon/telephone 07795652188 or Ebost/email karen.edwards@denbighshire.gov.uk"