Greens say issues with City Clean must be resolved and call for Independent Review to be made public
Greens have called on the Labour Council to do more to improve recycling rates as latest council figures show a spike in missed collections.
The council’s own monitoring data, released today, shows that the number of missed refuse and recycling collections has increased. There were almost 992 missed recycling collections between April and September this year.
While the report states that the increase is a result of the fire at the Waste Transfer Station at Hollingdean, Greens have raised concerns that collection figures continue to languish as a result of unresolved issues regarding the functioning of the City Clean service.
During a meeting of Policy and Resources Committee, Green Councillors referred to the publication of an Independent Review into issues at City Clean, calling for its findings to be accessible to the public, with names redacted as necessary. Greens say that residents must be given the opportunity to review information on the functioning of City Clean and called on the Labour Council to do more to ensure the service works well for staff and residents.
Greens said:
“Bluntly put, residents want their bins collected effectively and efficiently. Our Councillors are reporting overflowing bins or missed recycling collections on an almost daily basis. In some wards we have had councillors out helping elderly residents clear away rubbish that has gone uncollected for weeks at a time.
“Telling residents this is the result of a recent problem just doesn’t stack up. It was only a few months ago that Industrial Relations became so poor that we had a threat of strike action in the city over Pride weekend. Many residents have asked why the Labour Council is still unable to resolve industrial relations. Greens have condemned the council for failing to share more of the findings of an Independent Review that has been commissioned into industrial relations at City Clean.
“Today we are asking for a lot more information to be made public. Information could be redacted to ensure no staff are individually labelled, but a public report would enable all of our residents to gain the full picture of what is happening to the organisation of one of our most basic services: bin collection.”