At a full council meeting on July 14, members asked questions to portfolio holder for environment and sustainability, Councillor Geoffrey Blunden about problems in the roll out.
Councillor Jack Davies (Lib Dem, Pennington) said that he and staff had been inundated with hundreds of complaints from residents about missed waste bin collections, bins not being delivered and animals getting into food waste caddies since the new service launched on June 9.
CLLR Blunden (Con, Ashley, Bashley and Fernhill) said: “In the first four weeks of the new food waste recycling collection service there were 2,606 missed collections of the new bins and food waste caddies reported to New Forest Borough Council by residents.
“With 31,000 households in the phase one area there was just under a quarter of a million – 248,000 collections due in the first four weeks. Meaning that the number of reports received equates to just one per cent of complaints received.
“In the first four weeks we have successfully collected over 150 tonnes of food waste. There has been an investment in modern vehicles, new systems, new and improved working practices and more efficient routing.”
He said the service is a huge change and the lessons learned will help improve the service in its next stages.
Cllr Jack Davies said: “Will the council start to refund council tax on missed bin collections? “
Cllr Blunden said there will be no refund on council tax and the number of missed bins should be put into context against with the success of the overall service we provided.
The bin collections took place in Brockenhurst, Lymington, New Milton, and the surrounding areas.
