Litter bin emptying improvements on the way, says Shropshire Council

Until the end of March, bins were emptied by a firm called idverde, who were commissioned to carry out this work as part of Kier’s highways maintenance contract with the council. On 1 April, this contract came to an end and Kier took over the litter bin collection service for areas outside Shrewsbury.

Shropshire Council says that the transition between contractors has led to some delays in bins being emptied, as staff learn new collection routes and procedures, and as the delivery of new vehicles is awaited.

However, as a result of the change the collection service has been digitised so that every bin is recorded and rounds created to empty them in a more efficient and effective way. This has taken time, but will lead to big improvements in the service in the future.

David Vasmer, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for highways and environment, said:

“I know that some areas have been experiencing problems with their litter bin collections in recent weeks and I wanted to explain why, but also reassure people that the changes will lead to an improvement in the way bins are emptied.

“The change of contractor has, regrettably, seen some bin collections delayed and I know this has caused concern in many parts of the county. However, we are confident that these issues will be sorted out by the end of this month, and that – from that point – we will then see the litter bin emptying service become more efficient and, as our data grows, we will be better able to predict when bins need to be emptied more often.”