A review of bin collections is taking place.

Kirklees refuse teams are looking at the unbalance caused by new housing.

Will Acornley, head of waste, recycling and street cleansing, and Paul Whittaker, operational manager for the service, spoke to councillors at the Development and Environment Scrutiny Panel.

Mr Acornley said: “We’ve got some rounds where there has been property growth which has lead to an unbalance on some rounds, we’re undertaking a review of the rounds to alleviate the problems and we expect any changes to by July time this year.”

Clr Darren O’Donovan asked: “Does that increase the likelihood that it will impact on missed collection rates and what can be done to reduce any impact?”

Mr Acornley added: “There are some rounds that are already quite a stretch, clearly there is the potential that any unbalance of rounds will lead to missed collections and that is why we’re looking at the system.”

Mr Acornley said 235 Kirklees staff carry out the bin collection service in the borough, working from Vine Street in Huddersfield and George Street in Dewsbury, with an average 1,300 collections per day by the 36 collection teams.

Figures for December show that there were 720,000 individual bin collections and 413 missed.

Clr Nigel Patrick, chair of the scrutiny panel, said: “The policy says you will pick up a missed collection as soon as possible, should we set a time limit because as soon as possible could be ten days later?

“For the sake of performance should you not be trying to get them done in a day or two to benefit people who otherwise will be stuck with full bins?”

Nigel Patrick

Clr Phil Scott asked: “If you do miss a collection and it takes a few days or longer to collect it, will you pick up an extra bag the household has incurred?”

Mr Acornley added: “It will cost more and take extra resources to pick up extra waste and that will increase the overall disposal bill.”

Kirklees is also analysing what households are putting in their bins to see if more can be done to educate people to increase recycling, currently at 30%.

And the issue of bin men – and households – not leaving bins in the correct place was discussed.

Clr Patrick added: “I think the biggest service complaint I get is about where the bins are put back, I appreciate sometimes it’s done in a hurry, but this is about doing a neat and tidy job and not blocking paths for people, especially those using wheelchairs.”

Mr Acornley said the scale of the operation meant one or two would be out of place, while Clr Phil Scott added that households often left them in inappropriate locations.

The scrutiny panel agreed to recommend that a target time be set for missed collections.