City has embraced recycling food waste

THANK you for the kind opportunity to respond to a letter which appeared in your letters page on Tuesday, January 16.

Councillor Glenn Williams claims the bin changes introduced in September are not working. I have to contradict him. All evidence points to residents having embraced the opportunity to recycle food waste, using their black caddies, and we are seeing recycling rates across the city dramatically improve.

For only the third year ever, Coventry City Council provided refuse collections during Christmas week. This is clearly popular with residents.

The end of 2017 saw the wettest December since 1990, the deepest snow in four years, and a cold snap that saw temperatures plummet to -12 degrees. These were extreme weather conditions. The council has to keep residents and our own staff safe, and in extreme weather it is sometimes necessary to temporarily withdraw the use of our 26-tonne refuse lorries.

Council staff and I genuinely regret the inconvenience caused by even one missed bin. The teams work hard to catch up with any missed bins, and this is why we advise residents to leave any missed bin out. Across Coventry less than one per cent of bins go unemptied on their scheduled days.

I’d like to take this opportunity to make public my appreciation of the council staff who dealt with refuse, and gritted Coventry’s roads during tough weather conditions, and over the festive period. Councillor Jayne Innes Cabinet member for city services