Missed bin collections have quadrupled in Monmouthshire after the council overhauled its waste operations.
The number rose from around 1,800 in January to October, 2018, to around 7,400 in the same period this year.
Monmouthshire council bosses apologised to residents impacted by delays to their waste collections following the introduction of the new system in March.
A report says the number of missed collections is now “returning to normal.”
The overhaul saw changes to collection days for most households in Monmouthshire and the introduction of a fortnightly glass recycling collection.
The council also changed its entire fleet of waste lorries and changed the system for separating waste at its transfer stations.
A report says that “the operational changes were huge”, adding that the majority of residents “would have been unaware of the scale.”
“The recycling review changes on March 4, 2019, were the biggest single set of operational changes undertaken in waste and recycling collections in Monmouthshire,” the report says.
“The review changes were, for the vast majority or residents, successful and implemented without any issues,” it adds.
“There have been a much larger number of problems than we could have anticipated and this did impact negatively on certain rounds with some individuals having missed collections continuously over the first two months of changes.”
Some of the issues faced included the new fleet of lorries arriving late, which was blamed on water levels in the Rhine river slowing down vehicles moving across Europe.
Letters to residents were not sent out as planned, there was a slow response time dealing with missed collections and recurring issues left residents “annoyed.”
The delivery of boxes for glass recycling missed out many rural properties and there were also mapping issues for crews.
“As head of service I have made several public apologies to the residents affected,” Carl Touhig, head of waste and street services writes in a report.
“The teams and crews did their utmost to resolve the issues and ensure the services were delivered to the majority efficiently.”
The report – to be discussed by Monmouthshire council’s strong communities select committee on Tuesday – says measures were subsequently taken to reduce missed collections, such as rescheduling rounds in July.
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