Assurances provided to achieve service improvements
New contractor Biffa is working hard with East Hants District Council and Winchester City Council to ensure that any collections missed since the launch of the new contract will have been collected by early next week.
Dave Kenney, Biffa’s Regional Director, said: “Biffa would like to apologise to those residents of East Hampshire District Council and Winchester City Council who have experienced problems with the new recycling and refuse collection service that began last week.
“Our crews are focusing on completing each day’s scheduled collections, while extra staff and vehicles are being deployed to clear the backlog of missed bins. This will include Saturday working. We expect most of the backlog to be completed early next week.
“The new service has meant collection days changing for around 90% of the near 100,000 households across both districts. In Biffa’s experience, it is inevitable that there will be some initial problems with such a major service change.”
Brian Turner, The Council's Client Team Manager, said: "The introduction of the new collection rounds was always going to be a challenge and we are working hard to rectify customer problems. While the number of calls does represent a small percentage of households we want these initial difficulties resolved as soon as possible."
Anyone experiencing a missed collection is asked to:
- Report it using the online form at www.working-together.org.uk or by telephoning 0300 300 0013 (Mon - Fri).
- Ensure they leave their bin out for collection crews
- Double check their calendars to ensure they have the right bin out on the right collection day. You can find your calendar online using www.working-together.org.uk.
Once residents have logged their missed bin there is no need to phone again. Collection crews will have their details and visit their property to empty the bin as soon as practicable.