Rother waste crisis - latest

Members found it difficult to accept that some of the problems identified by Verdant, such as low overhead cables, overhanging trees and inaccessible long tracks/driveways had not been experienced elsewhere and should have been identified and overcome before the contract commenced

Members felt that Verdant had not conducted full and thorough research of the district before taking on this contract;

'¢During the mobilisation process a number of assumptions had been made '“ some of these were incorrect with regards to houses of multiple occupancy and the number of properties on farmland and other rural areas.

rTo enable this service to be a success it would be essential to have the goodwill of the public '“ this was currently being lost by inconsistent service and empty promises of collections that did not then materialise.

rVerdant had been impressed with the level of support on the street by the public to participate in the recycling service and agreed that consistency was a key point and paramount to success.

rVerdant had requested a longer lead-in period for the new service but had been requested by the council to introduce the scheme as soon as possible after taking on the contract. In addition to the six-month start-up period, following award of contract, an additional two months lead-in time after starting the contract had been agreed. No request to further extend this had been received by the council

rThere had been some confusion over the instructions given for point of collection - the hanger that had been left on the bins during delivery stated that the point of collection (presentation) was where the bin was delivered '“ this was not always at the position the Verdant collection crews expected

r Due to the round restructuring required to provide the new collection service, it had been impossible to keep all the old crews together '“ some local knowledge "on the ground" had therefore been lost '“ this was now being addressed through the round balancing exercise