£6.5 million pounds has been invested in a brand new fleet of waste and recycling trucks, providing new and improved collections to households across southern Oxfordshire.
The trucks - due to hit the roads in the autumn – will replace the old vehicles which are becoming unreliable as they reach the end of their life.
The new vehicles, managed by South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils’ contractor Biffa, will carry out the waste, recycling and food recycling collection services for all 115,000 households across the districts.
Cllr Tony Harbour, South Oxfordshire District Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for Waste, said:
“The current trucks are now over seven years old and have always been due to be replaced in 2017. As they are reaching the end of their life, they have started to become unreliable with some unfortunately breaking down en-route. In recent weeks, this has started to cause some disruption to household collection services and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to residents.”
The councils and Biffa are working hard to resolve the problem, including drafting in extra vehicles and calling on the crews to work extra hours. In the event of non-collection of waste or recycling, residents are advised to leave their bins out and the crew will be back to collect them the next day.
Missed bin collections can be reported online.
Cllr Charlotte Dickson, Vale of White Horse District Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for Waste, said:
“We appreciate how important waste and recycling services are to local residents and we are very grateful for the efforts people make to recycle their waste. We hope they will be pleased that the new vehicles are on their way.
“In the meantime, I would like to reassure residents that we are working closely with Biffa to ensure that collections run as smoothly as possible.”
Residents can stay informed about waste and recycling collections via the councils’ websites, including arranging bulky waste collections and reporting missed bins.
A Biffa spokesperson added: “I’d like to assure residents that we are doing all we can to make collections as scheduled, and apologise to any residents who have been affected by the problems with our vehicles. The new fleet will make a real difference, and will help us to deliver the service that residents in South Oxfordshire and Vale expect and deserve.
