AROUND 1,000 households in East Dorset are having problems with their waste collections, it has been reported.

The Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP) started its new ‘Recycle for Dorset’ collections in late October and early November but has since received complaints from residents who have not had their rubbish picked up.

Wimborne resident Anita Berry said she also saw her recycling and food waste heading for landfill, and called the process “frustrating”.

Mrs Berry, who lives in Grenville Road, said: “What annoyed me the most of all is that I did all of the recycling during that first week, washed it and separated it out and when they did make it round they put it in the landfill lorry.

“It really winds me up – I watched them do it. It seems like a resources problem. They don’t seem to have enough lorries, and the ones they do have are too small.”

The service in the town began on November 2, but Rosemary Booth from Allenview Road, who has asked for assisted collections, finally had a visit from the lorries after two weeks of missed collections.

“On the first week of collections, which was the 2nd, we should have had the non-recyclables and food collected, but nothing happened,” Mrs Booth said.

“On the 9th, we should have had the food and the recycling collected – but still nothing.”

When Mrs Booth got through to the DWP, she was told she was a high priority but five days later, her bins were still to be collected.

“I’ve been told that a percentage of the community have not had their bins collected, and that equates to over 1,000 people,” she said.

Steve Burdis, director of the Dorset Waste Partnership, said: “The roll-out of the new service to 53,000 households has involved huge changes for both residents and staff. A number of teething problems while things settle down are likely but always regrettable.

“I apologise that the service some households have received has been far below that which we aim to provide and that they expect.

“If we have missed a scheduled collection we will make all efforts to return and collect it within three days during this busy period. We are using all available resources to ensure bins are not left unemptied and that paid-for garden waste collections are made.

“The ‘Recycle for Dorset’ service aims to increase the amount of waste Dorset recycles rather than sends to landfill. We cannot achieve this without the vital role residents play sorting their materials.

“The last few weeks have seen unprecedented levels of recycling, including food waste. Any cases of collected recycling going to landfill are unacceptable and should not have happened. We are carrying out our own investigations into why this happened to ensure it does not happen again.”

The service offers:

  • A weekly collection of food waste using brown bins
  • A fortnightly collection of recycling using a 240-litre wheelie bin with a green lid, the existing green recycling box for paper and cardboard, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, tins and cans, and aerosols and a small reusable bag for household batteries
  • A fortnightly collection of household rubbish using a 140-litre grey wheelie bin