Neighbours on a main route through Swindon were dismayed to see waste bins and recycling bags left uncollected on the roadside.

As the rollout of Swindon Borough Council’s new waste collection scheme continues, with an apparent 99 per cent success rate, some residents have highlighted a few blind spots around the borough.

Emerson Ferreira, who lives on Cricklade Road, complained to the local authority after fearing that the missed refuse bags and recyclable material would not be picked up for several days.

She said: “A significant number of waste bins and plastic recyclables were not collected on the scheduled day, as per the information available on the SBC website.

“Despite registering a complaint promptly, the revised collection date is set for December 29, leaving us in a challenging situation.

“This delay has resulted in an accumulation of waste, posing potential issues with pests such as foxes and rats.

“Our attempts to adhere to the collection schedule have been met with limited success, and we fear the consequences for our community's hygiene and well-being."

Elsewhere, on Farriers Close, neighbours say no bins were emptied as planned on November 28.

Paul Ryall added: “We are still waiting. We have phoned and emailed the council, who said we have to wait because they are short staffed.

“It's going to be four weeks by the time they get round to emptying the bins. The new schedule is not going well, believe me.”

Swindon Advertiser:

Councillor Chris Watts is Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet member for the environment and transport.

He said: “We’d like to say a huge thanks to local residents for really embracing the new waste and recycling service changes.

“It is the biggest change to our waste service in 15 years and residents have played their part in helping us get off to a good start.

“Our crews have been collecting waste from around 20,000 properties each day and more than 99 per cent of households have had their waste collected, which is a tremendous effort from our staff, who are having to navigate new routes and a new way of collecting waste.

“We always knew there would be some issues along the way and the small number of missed collections is one example of that.

“If households have put their waste out on the new collection day and we inadvertently missed them from our rounds, we will return as quickly as we can to pick up the waste.

“Bear with us while we adapt to the new system into next week and beyond.”