Council gets tough on waste collector

There have been problems since the outset

South Hams District Council has pledged to get tough on the private firm contracted to provide waste collection services.

Waste services have been outsourced to FCC Environment since April 2019 but have been beset by problems from the outset, including missed collections and complaints that vehicles were too large for some areas.

At South Hams Executive on Thursday Cllr Nicky Hopwood (Conservative, Woolwell) said:  “I believe the collection of waste is above everything else we as a council do for our residents and we are failing because FCC, the contractor are failing. 

“As an executive member, I am at the weekly meetings to hold FCC to account.  But each week we are told the same thing. Covid and HGV drivers are to blame. 

“We have asked for a recovery plan since the last one failed in July and haven’t received one. When is enough enough?

“And when can we as a council look elsewhere for waste collection services to be delivered.

The Executive acknowledged that FCC had failed to deliver on its contractual obligations and put forward a resolution which suggested the council would consider any possible options to ensure effective waste services are restored.

The motion read: “The council resolve that the waste and recycling collection service provided still falls below the standard required to meet the expectations of local residents.  

“Councillors were given assurances that the service would return to a ‘steady state’ by mid-July. In the Council’s view, this is not the case.

“We appreciate the efforts of the officers and FCC to try and rectify the situation.

“However, if a solution cannot be found to deliver the ‘super recycling’ service as specified at the full council meeting on 6 December 2018 by the end of 2021, the council will be forced to consider exercising any available contractual rights in order to ensure that, going forwards, arrangements are in place which are capable of delivering a waste sand recycling collection service that is fit for the 21st Century.”

Councillors did not specify what options might be considered if the deadline wasn’t met. 

The discussion by South Hams Executive is the latest development in series of failures which have been embarrassing for councillors and led critics of privatisation to suggest the service should never have been contracted out.   

In June waste collection services became so stretched the council was forced to seek help from neighbouring Teignbridge council’s in-house team to carry out its basic duties.  

Teignbridge’s deputy council leader and executive member for recycling, household waste and environmental health Alistair Dewhirst (Lib Dem – Ipplepen) said they were proud to help.  

“I think it’s an absolute tribute to our amazing team, and I’m really delighted that they are a Teignbridge in-house team. We do all our own work,” he said.

“We do our own engineering work on our trucks to keep them in the best possible manner. And in my book that’s definitely been working.”

When the service was passed to FCC it was intended to mirror the service provided by the same company under a contract with West Devon borough council for more than 10 years.  But FCC has struggled to provide the same service for South Hams.  

But in March this year the waste management company rolled out service changes across South Hams in a bid to improve recycling rates.

In June FCC was forced to apologise to residents and said it faced problems due to higher than anticipated volumes of materials. It said the system was designed on the basis of recycling vehicles filling up once a day and being emptied at the end of the working day.

It also said the increased volumes had resulted in the recycling depot filling up, making the unloading of the collection vehicles and the onward operations “much more complex.”

In early August Cllr Julian Brazil (Lib Dem, Stokenham) criticised the ruling Conservative group and said: “The actual number one priority of the council and what we should be doing, we’re totally failing on. And they were warned if they outsource, this is what might happen.” 

He accused the authority of “incompetence” and said council taxpayers money was “being squandered by complete fools” over the handling of waste collections. 

On 16th August it was announced that residents in South Hams would need to dispose of all their own garden waste after FCC said it needed to stop collections. 

Residents were told to either compost the garden waste or take it themselves to one of the three recycling centres in South Hams operated by Devon County Council. 

In a recent development, the Councils’ contract manager has retired and the senior waste specialist has left the council to pursue another job.