THURROCK Council has once again issued a 'full apology' to borough residents for failures in the refuse collection service – and has recruited commercial companies to help catch up on missed collections.

Intended or otherwise, depending on varying political viewpoints, in a move that appears to be a slight on the local, borough-based workforce the council has brought in the services of external companies rather than pay its own workers overtime.

In the past 48 hours bin crews from private contractors Veolia, GBN and Ahern have been seen operating on routes in the borough.

The whole Thurrock-wide bins collection service has degenerated into a failed service and one that has become the centrepiece of a row between the authority, staff members, unions and local councillors.

Today (Wednesday, 27 April) the council issued another press release saying it has now added 'extra capacity' to its household waste service to "catch-up missed collections and help the service get back on track as quickly as possible."

The council has reiterated part of the problem has been caused by JustStopOil protesters in the borough – as well as 'operational issues'. However, that view is contested by members of the workforce who say the council's failure to manage the service is to blame.

Last week Thurrock Nub news reported on the workers' concerns in this story: https://thurrock.nub.news/news/local-news/council-says-sorry-but-its-far-from-enough-say-workers-fed-up-with-being-blamed-who-slam-bin-collection-management-and-warn-of-major-problems-when-fortnightly-collections-start-later-this-year-130043

The council responded by praising its refuse collection workforce, featured in another Nub News story which also revealed the council is planning to go to fortnightly general waste collections later this year. https://thurrock.nub.news/news/local-news/council-praises-workers-and-attempts-to-ctach-up-on-bins-backlog-but-there-are-fears-things-will-get-worse-when-it-switches-to-fortnightly-collections-later-this-year-130092

Not everyone bought into the council's previous apology for failings and praise for its staff – South Chafford Conservative councillor laid into the workers and blamed them for the problems, saying they were politically motivated. https://thurrock.nub.news/news/local-news/political-war-of-words-continues-as-tory-councillors-step-up-level-of-accusations-130343. Our story also featured the local Labour group's take on the situation.

As the political rhetoric continued to flow, today's announcement by the council came hours after contracted firms were spotted at work on the borough's streets. Council critics have asked if the council has made that decision simply to avoid paying overtime to its own workers.

The council said: "To further support the service to catch-up, waste collections will take place this Saturday and again on Bank Holiday Monday. Residents should leave uncollected bins out on Saturday and take their bins out for collection on the usual day next week, even on Monday, 2 May."

A spokesperson for the authority added: "Waste collections continued until 9pm yesterday (Tuesday, 26 April) and with late working scheduled for the rest of the week we are making good progress in catching up on missed collections.

"We appreciate the importance of a high quality, consistent waste service for residents. Please accept our full apology for the recent disruption to the waste service. It is not the standard residents rightly expect nor the one we wish to provide. We would like to thank residents for bearing with us as we continue to work to rectify this issue."

"If your bin has not been collected please leave it out for collection. More information can be found at https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/bindays"