Putting out the bin was a waste of time
COUNCIL ERROR TELLS THOUSANDS IT WAS RECYCLING DAY
A COUNCIL has been forced to apologise after wrongly telling thousands of residents to put their bins out last week.
Many Newcastle residents were left confused after the city council’s website told them to expect garden waste collections in the week of March 1.
When the bins were not emptied, it sparked complaints that the local authority had failed to honour its obligations to residents by missing a scheduled pick-up.
However, the council has now clarified that no collections had ever been due to take place last week and none had been paid for.
Instead, a glitch with the postcode checker system on the council’s website meant that incorrect bin collection dates were being added - giving false information to up to 23,273 garden waste service subscribers from 2020 if they checked it.
Lib Dem councillor Anita Lower said that the gaffe caused “total confusion” for residents, particularly the elderly, and undermined trust in the council.
Coun Lower added: “If you cannot trust the website then how can the council expect people to use it?
“No wonder people say that they want to ring up and talk to a real person instead.
“Things like this make the council look silly.”
Newcastle’s 2020 garden waste collections service finished in December, after the council moved last year to a calendar year system rather than a 2020/21 service.
The 2021 brown bin collections will start on Tuesday, March 16, and people must sign up to this year’s service to receive them - at a cost of £40 per bin for 20 collections.
The council said it was “clearly communicated” to people that the 2020 service ended in December and included no collections in 2021.
A Newcastle City Council spokesperson said: “No garden waste collections have been missed as none were scheduled, however due to a technical issue our online bin day system incorrectly continued to show dates for during the winter period, after our 2020 service was complete.
“This has since been corrected and we can only apologise for any confusion this may have caused.
“Our 2021 service - which costs the same as last year, at £40 for up to 20 collections - will begin from Tuesday March 16 and again run until December.
“New customers can sign up online now, at www.newcastle. gov.uk/gardenwaste, while existing customers will receive information on how to renew in the coming days.”
Under recently approved council budget plans, the cost of the garden waste subscription will increase to £41 in 2022.