AMID a welter of social media comment, mixed messages and what appears to be misinformation, Thurrock Council has given a definitive message about its waste collection service and what will - or will not - be taken away by bin crews.

And it is clear that brown bins currently full of garden waste on residents' drives or outside their homes, will not be collected.

The council has completely suspended its brown bin collection service. Its future is likely to be decided at a cabinet meeting later this year. A discussion paper is scheduled for the July meeting, and the extreme probability is that it will then scrapped - or at best a paid-for service will be offered that will not cost the council any money. Other councils in the region operate a similar service, for example Basildon Council introduced its paid service this week.

The cost for the first year of garden waste collections in Basildon is £25. That equates to 37 collections a year. Next year the cost will rise to £50 a year. In Brentwood the hire of the bin and the service charge costs £60 for the year. This entitles its residents to 25 collections, once every two weeks (except for the Christmas holidays). In Harlow the cost is £42 a year for all year round fortnightly collections. New subscribers pay the same plus a one-off fee of £30 for a bin.

As yet, no similar options have been tabled for discussion in Thurrock, but it seems likely it may be an option offered at the July discussion.

Garden waste collection is not considered a statutory collection service as defined by the government and the council, which is in the midst of financial turmoil following the catastrophic collapse of its 'borrow to invest policy', has been instructed by the government that it must cease all non statutory operations and pare its spending.

The government is prepared to bail out what is an effectiveley bankrupt council by a process known as capitalisation, in which it will pump in hundreds of millions to keep the council going, but it insists the council must make massive cuts to its current operations to bring the amount of cash needed to run the minium level of statutory services be down to an absolute minimum.

Cllr Andrew Jefferies has been at the forefront of bin collection controversy.

Earlier this week, as bin collection crews were instructed to 'get tough', green bins across the borough have been rejected for collection because they contained garden waste.

Previously, when the brown bin suspension was announced, the council indicated it was acceptable to use the green bin for garden waste. And this week a statement was put on some social media platforms, purporting to come from a council officer, that it was acceptable to put garden waste inside plastic bags that were sealed and they could go in the green bin. This has now been catagorically refuted by the council.

The only option for people to dispose of garden waste via a council service, is to transport it themselves, by car, small van or trailer to the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Linford. Restrictions will come into force on 1 June about what vehicles can go to the tip, and small vans and trailers will only be allowed on two set days - in midweek on Tuesdays and Thursday.

The use of small vans or trailers is by permit only - and the council has cut the number of times a permit can be used - from 12 to six a year. Existing permits will no longer be accepted and residents wishing to obtain a permit will have to apply again for a new one. The full regulations about the tip and access can be found via this link.

The council has given the following statement to Thurrock Nub News today, outlining its position.

It says:

"Brown bins are currently not being collected, this position has not changed for some weeks. The council has faced issues with waste collection staffing numbers and recruitment.

"Collection of garden waste is not a statutory service. While the council works to resolve these issues, it is currently focusing household waste collections on the general waste and recycling bins, the services it is statutorily obliged to carry out.

"These collections now happen, regularly as scheduled, with all reports of missed bins robustly investigated and swiftly resolved.

 "With regard to future of the garden waste collection service no formal decision has yet been made. Any decision will be made through the council's governance processes and a paper will be brought to July Cabinet which explores options for the future of the service.

"Garden waste that cannot be composted at home can be taken to the Household Waste and Recycling Centre.

"Garden waste must not be disposed of as part of general waste. Information about what goes in bins can be found on the council's website at: thurrock.gov.uk/bins."

Cllr Sara Muldowney has condemned the council over its bin failures.

Labour's shadow portfolio holder for the environment, Cllr Sara Muldowney has damned the council for its actions and says borough residents have been let down.

Earlier this week she chased the issue up this officers and was told there were no options available. The full response Cllr Muldowney received is at the end of this story.

Cllr Muldowney is enraged by the disingenuous way she says Cllr Andrew Jefferies, the Conservative councillor with portfolio responsibility for environmental services has conducted himself and says he has deliberately misled residents.

Cllr Jefferies first made significant pledges about the service in October and then again apologised in December, saying things would get better.

The council has axed one of its senior managers and brought in two highly-paid experts to try and solve the issues - but with little success.

Cllr Muldowney told Thurrock Nub News: "Over the last couple of years, residents have been promised time and again by the Conservative councillor in charge of bins, Cllr Jefferies, that the issues with bin collections were over, that the service had been successfully reset, and that normal service would now resume.

"Every time, they have been let down. Residents are fed up and I don't blame them.

"I wrote to officers earlier this week asking for the brown bins to be emptied one last time. They can't leave all this waste decaying on people's drives as the weather gets hotter." "Officers have answered to say that it is not operationally possible to empty the brown bins.

"If Cllr Jefferies knew that the pre-election brown bin collection was to be the last one, he should have let residents know then."

"The bin men could have put stickers on everyone's bins to let them know that this would be the last collection for the foreseeable future, and then residents would know not to fill their bins again

Under fire: Cllr Andrew Jefferies.

"Residents were also told that they could put grass cuttings in with their household waste. Now officers are saying that they won't collect household waste if there are grass cuttings in there.

"The lack of communication has been appalling and residents don't know whether they are coming or going.

"It is not residents' fault that Thurrock Conservatives have bankrupted the council so badly that now they can't even empty the bins. Thurrock residents deserve better."

The last collection of brown bins took place last month in the immediate run up to the local elections. Many saw the decision, believed to have been a direct instruction from Cllr Jefferies, was a direct ploy to curry favour with voters.

In the wake of the decision, Nub News exclusively reported that bin crews knew it was the last collection and that the council had considered posting stickerts on bins. However, it could not manage to produce them on time and workers have told Nub News they were ordered not to tell residents it was the last collection.

The decision by the council to prevaricate and not tell people that the April blitiz might well be the last for some time could be interpreted as a breach of government guidance on waste collection.

In its directive to councils the government says: "If resource or staff availability is severely pressured, you may need to change or close services temporarily. You must consider your statutory duties if you do this.

"It is your responsibility to tell residents clearly how and when waste collection services are changing.

"This includes changes in days and how often waste will be collected. It is essential that you give residents as much advanced warning as possible. Make it clear that changes are to prioritise public health."

The message sent to Cllr Muldowney from by an officer this week is:

"The delivery of the brown bin service is currently not operationally possible. 

"The issue as you may know is that there are problems recruiting, but on top of this, there is limited resilience in terms of our current staffing numbers to cover annual leave requirements, sickness and other absences.

"We are unable to increase our staffing levels due to the Section 114 (Editor's note: Which is the government's directive in the wake of intervention - view details via this link). The collection of garden waste is not a statutory service and therefore additional funding does not meet the requirements of the Section 114 notice.

"This leaves us in a position where we are unable to collect the brown bins at this time. An options paper regarding the future of the service will be considered at Cabinet in July.

"In the meantime, there is a leaflet being printed asking people not to use their brown bins as we are unable to provide a collection of this waste stream.

"Green waste should be home composted or taken to the HWRC. Any green waste that is put into the refuse bin will not be collected, as this is unable to be processed at the disposal plant.

"We do appreciate and apologise for the inconvenience that this has caused our residents.

"I know this doesn't address the immediate issues and problems, but the service is confined by the S114."