THURROCK Council is hoping borough residents will help it improve its local waste collection service and has issued a reminder to dispose of food and kitchen waste in grey or green refuse bins and only use the brown bin for garden waste.

A statement from the council says: "Brown bin collections will continue as frequently as possible but may not take place on the normal scheduled day.

"The advice the council is giving residents is to put their bin out on their scheduled collection day and leave it out until it is collected.

"By keeping all food waste out of the brown bin and instead disposing of it in with general waste it will mean that brown bins can stay out for collection without causing odour issues or attracting pests.

"It will allow waste crews to focus on carrying out vital recycling and waste collection on schedule while the council will continue to collect garden waste as promptly as possible.

"Residents should put bins out as close to the road as possible so that crews can collect it and leave it out until it has been emptied. If it is not possible to leave it out on the pavement we ask that it is kept at the edge of their property."

More information is available on the council's website at: thurrock.gov.uk/bins

The council has still not been able to roll-out its much vaunted food waste caddy system, which it first started talking about in 2021. The council hoped to implement the system in 2022 but delayed it and then said it would be a key task for new senior waste management to undertake.

In July last yar environment portfolio holder Cllr Andrew Jefferies said: "The deferment will help us to make sure that our plans are in line with government guidance, offer the best possible solutions to increase recycling rates long term and allow us to carry out exciting education projects in schools about the importance of recycling in the meantime.

"We had initially planned to make the changes highlighted in the ten-year Municipal Waste Management Strategy this September but with the government set to publish a range of guidance for local authority waste management later this year, we have decided to push back this date to make sure that our plans meet with new statutory obligations.

"Another advantage of waiting until 2023 to introduce the changes is that we will be able to access the Government's 'New Burdens Fund' which will cover the costs of the changes that we need to make to the household waste collection service, which will come as a result of the new guidance.  

Cllr Jefferies has been at the forefront of pledging change and improvement to borough bin services, but with missed collections still happening regularly the service remains a major problem for the council

"In the mean-time we will continue to innovate and improve our waste services to encourage residents to recycle as much as possible as we maintain the current collections of dry recycling, garden and food waste and general refuse."

Soon after that message, the brown bin collection was switched to fortnightly.

And in October Cllr Jefferies delivered a full and frank appraisal of the council's bins collection service, saying it just wasn't good enough and the council has not just let down residents, but it had not looked after its workers.

In a connected message the council has apologised for not collecting some green or grey bins in Chafford Hundred, Grays and Purfleet-on-Thames on Friday, 10 March. It says plans were in hand to collect them over the weekend or tomorrow (Monday).