Kirklees Council is planning a big shake-up of bin collections across Huddersfield and South Kirklees in February 2025.

Bin collection days are likely to change as the council moves to an ‘area-based’ collection system where crews stick to local rounds and get to know their patch.

The new system was introduced in North Kirklees around Christmas 2024 but coincided with a “perfect storm” when ageing council bin wagons suffered breakdowns and there was also a failure of a computer system that holds vital information about rounds.

The result was just short of 4,000 missed bin collections in January 2024 and a rash of complaints.

The council says lessons have been learned for when the new rounds are introduced in South Kirklees next year.

There was an update on waste collection services at a meeting of the council’s Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Panel at Huddersfield Town Hall.

Will Acornley, the council’s head of operational services, gave a presentation which showed how the council’s new bin collection system had helped reduce the number of missed bins.

Since what he described as the “perfect storm” when missed bins hit 3,849 in January, improvements had been made which had brought the number of missed bins down below what it was under the previous system.

In June 2024 there were 1,398 missed bins and in July 1,579.

Mr Acornley said: “The new collection model puts more ownership on crews as one crew stays in an area and gets to understand the route better.”

Previously, he said, a crew could be in Skelmanthorpe on Tuesday and Dewsbury town centre on Wednesday which didn’t help if any missed bins needed to be collected.

 

The view from the cab of a bin lorry

Mr Acornley explained that the biggest reason for missed collections was access issues such as parked cars preventing bin lorries from getting through narrow streets.

The wards with the most missed bins were: Holme Valley South, Greenhead, Lindley, Golcar and Colne Valley. The most complaints about repeated missed bins came from Greenhead, Holme Valley South, Holme Valley North, Colne Valley and Liversedge and Gomersal.

Mr Acornley said narrow lanes were a problem in many villages and though the council had “ultra narrow” vehicles they were only made by one manufacturer and enhanced technology meant bin lorries were getting bigger, not smaller.

Mr Acornley also revealed that the council was about to announce a major replacement of its ageing fleet with a five-year programme. This had yet to go to Cabinet and the current delivery time for new vehicles was 12-18 months.

Clr John Taylor (Con, Kirkburton) said that up to 1,700 new homes a year could be built in Kirklees under the Local Plan and asked how that would impact on bin collections in the future.

Mr Acornley said the new collection rounds due to be introduced in South Kirklees next year put the system near full capacity.

“We have reached a point where no more growth can be absorbed,” he said.

That could mean other ways of collecting bins had to be looked at. The meeting was told that could include concrete collection points where residents leave their bins in one place at the end of a street or communal waste collection points.

Clr Taylor warned that communal collection points may solve one problem but cause another with dumped rubbish and waste.

It was also suggested that the council look to require developers building new housing estates to incorporate communal bin collection areas in the design.

The council still has a problem with contaminated green bins in North Kirklees where whole loads are lost due to contamination mainly with dirty nappies and food waste.

Contaminated green bins were said to cost the council £460,000 a year but Mr Acornley said the council’s ‘waste advisor’ had been educating offenders about what could go in green bins and contamination as high as 70%-80% was now below 40%.

 

 

With continuing uncertainty over the Government’s plans for recycling, the council has had to sign a temporary extension to its waste contract with private operator Suez until 2028.

The original contract dates back to 1998 hence why much of what can be recycled by neighbouring councils isn’t collected by Kirklees.

The council has abandoned plans to re-introduce kerbside glass collections while the collection of food waste is not financially viable without millions of pounds in Government help.

Graham West, the council’s service director for highways and streetscene, said the problems in waste collection were all down to “culture, behaviour and lifestyle.”

He urged the public to change their behaviour said: “It’s about us all pulling together to make the waste collection service the best it can be.”

 

Kirklees Council still battling its budget with predicted over-spend this year of £13 million