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Central Bedfordshire recycling collections resume

Martin HeathBedfordshire political reporter
BBC Dark grey wheelie bin with the orange lid opened and paper and cardboard visible inside. The bin is in front of a wooden fence.BBC
The council said its officers had worked "at breakneck speed" to get collections of orange and green-lidded bins restarted

A council is restarting collections of dry recycling, a week after they were suspended following a row with a contractor.

Central Bedfordshire Council said its officers had worked "at breakneck speed to put alternative arrangements in place".

It added that anyone whose collection had been missed would have their bins emptied by 27 December.

One resident said she was glad the bins would be dealt with in time for Christmas week.

The authority said it suspended collections at the weekend after the contractor, AWM, tried to double the price of the service following a fire at one of its sites.

AWM said all of its other clients had accepted a temporary contract to help it deal with the aftermath of the fire.

It claimed Central Bedfordshire Council had declined to discuss any new arrangement.

The council said it was left with no choice but to find a new contractor.

The leader, Adam Zerny, believed the situation would be rectified within a few days but admitted it would not be easy to find another contractor who had spare capacity.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the council said: "Officers at the council have been working at breakneck speed to put alternative arrangements in place, using their own back-up plans.

"Without the council having speedy contingency plans in place, a re-tender of such a large contract would have taken months.

"Despite the inconvenience and disruption to residents, securing a new contractor is the better long-term option for the public."

Zerny added: "I am extremely grateful to residents for their patience during this disruption. I am delighted the council has managed to put a new contractor in place so quickly and is able to announce the resumption of recycling collections."

Martin Heath/BBC Grace Connolly with dark hair tied back and wearing black-framed glasses. She is smiling at the camera and wearing a black T-shirt. She is standing in the hallway of a house, with pictures in small frames to her right and a larger frame to her left.Martin Heath/BBC
Grace Connolly said it was good that collections had resumed before Christmas

Grace Connolly, who lives in Dunstable, welcomed the news: "That is really good.

"I've got a baby and he comes with a lot of rubbish."

She added that collections needed to resume at Christmas "because of the wrapping paper and things".

Sam Read/BBC Alex Maher with long brown hair smiling at the camera. She is standing in a factory with shelving and equipment behind her.Sam Read/BBC
Alex Mayer MP said there were still some questions to be answered

Alex Mayer, the Labour MP for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard, said: "It's been a worrying time for people. particularly in the run up to Christmas when we all know we've got more packaging.

"I think there are still questions to be asked about how we got into this mess in the first place."

The council said collections would resume on Monday and it has advised residents to check its website for information about collections, because their bins might be emptied on a different day to usual.

It said every household would have at least one recycling collection before 27 December.

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