Bin collections and street cleaning in Wandsworth have got visibly worse since Labour took over the running of Wandsworth Council in 2022.
Missed collections were five times higher over the last 12 months, according to the council’s own figures.
Residents are left with uncollected bins and litter-strewn streets, while the Labour Councillors responsible dismiss concerns. Labour-run Wandsworth Council spent £3.85 million of your money on a chaotic food waste service and are spending hundreds of thousands extra on emergency street cleaning.
Missed collections and residents giving up on an unreliable food waste service mean that the Council is spending more than it budgeted for. This leaves an ongoing hole worth hundreds of thousands of pounds in the council’s finances. Labour’s failure to deliver basic services means higher costs and dirtier streets.
1. Litter-strewn streets: A fivefold increase in missed collections leaves overflowing bins and dirty pavements.
2. Overspend for failure: Hundreds of thousands of pounds wasted on extra street cleaning to cover up poor performance.
3. Residents let down: Rotting food in caddies and missed collections mean many residents have given up on food waste recycling.
4. Out of touch: Labour calls their disastrous food waste rollout a “huge logistical achievement.”
5. Unreliable food waste service: £3.85 million spent, and a minimum £260,000 hole in the annual budget due to missed food recycling targets.
What residents think…
“Collecting the bins is such a basic thing that the Council should get right.
How could Labour get it so wrong, so quickly?”
“I care about the environment and really wanted to recycle our food waste. This council doesn’t make that easy. No wonder people have given up.”
How Labour have responded…
“A five fold increase in missed collections is ‘not a lot’.”
Labour Cabinet Member for the Environment, Environment Committee, Nov 24
“The bungled roll out of food waste is a ‘huge logistical achievement’”.
Labour Leader, Wandsworth Full Council, Dec 24
SOURCES:
Fivefold increase in missed bin collections. Wandsworth Environment Committee Paper, Page 71, 18th November 2024.
Figures on Departmental overspend, food waste service spending and reduction in food waste tonnage expectations. Wandsworth Environment Committee (Paper No. 24-225), page 14, 17th Sep 2024. Wandsworth Environment Committee (Paper No. 24-362), page 114, 18th Nov 2024. Wandsworth Environment Committee (Paper No. 23-280), page 71, 6th Sep 2023. Wandsworth Environment Committee, Discussion of food waste collection, 26th November 2024: Lowering of the food waste tonnage diverted target from 7,800 tonnes to 5,000 tonnes, costing £93 per tonne, amounting to a £260,400 loss.
