Barking and Dagenham Council says waste collections in the borough are now “back on track” following nearly a month of delays.
Recycling collections have been running with delays since at least 8th July, according to a post on the council’s Facebook page that blamed “operational issues”.
The council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the delays were caused by “unexpected vehicle faults” but that collections were now back on schedule as of last Monday (28 July).
A council spokesperson said: “The operational issues that recently impacted some of our scheduled waste and recycling collections were caused by unexpected vehicle faults.
“We’re pleased to say that we worked swiftly to arrange repairs and additional hire vehicles. Our staff have worked hard to resolve the issues and collections have been back on schedule since 28 July.”
The spokesperson added that the council had prioritised general waste collections, with recycling collections being delayed by up to a week.
They also said the council was putting in work to leave its fleet of vehicles less vulnerable to faults.
The spokesperson said: “The council prioritised domestic waste collections throughout and maintained recycling services with some delays. The most significant delay was up to one week on some recycling rounds.
“We thank residents for their patience as we worked to resolve the operational issues.
“We remain committed to maintaining full service on our waste and recycling collections and we’re continuing to proactively secure resilience within the fleet moving forwards.”
