Refuse collectors choosing to take bank holidays off rather than work overtime has been revealed as an issue that has caused disruption waste and recycling collection disruption.
Additional resources will be pumped into the service in the hope that waste and recycling performance will improve when the next bank holiday Monday comes around in August.
At the end of May, Cllr Graham Breeze (Powys Independent – Welshpool Llanerchyddol) tabled a number of questions to Cllr Richard Church (Liberal Democrat – Welshpool Castle) on the problems with the new waste and recycling collection routes.
This has seen black bin and recycling boxes left in streets all around Powys due to collection failures which have continued up to the last bank holiday.
Cllr Church had the waste and recycling brief added to his list of responsibilities as cabinet member for legal and regulatory services last month following in a cabinet reshuffle by council leader Cllr Jake Berriman (Liberal Democrat – Llandrindod North).
Cllr Breeze asked 10 questions and several of which focussed on how the council intends to solve the problems and improve the service.
Cllr Church said: “There is a particular problem with missed collections on bank holiday Mondays.
“That isn’t new, but the changes in the routes implemented at the beginning April means that different household now have collections on Mondays.
“If collections are not completed on a bank holiday Monday, the service can be disrupted through the subsequent week as the service seeks to complete missed collections on the following days.”
Cllr Church continued: “The problem is particularly acute in the north of Powys, where fewer staff take up overtime on bank holiday Mondays.
“Further work needs to done, particularly working with the staff in the north, to resolve the problems with bank holiday collections.
“The management team are committing additional resources to resolving them and I will be looking to see an improved performance at the August bank holiday.”
Cllr Church claims that the service was “improving” before he took over last month, but it still has “some way to go” to match last year’s performance.
The number of missed collections last year for the months of March, April and May in 2025 was: 0.07 per cent 0.13 per cent and 0.13 per cent .
For this March, April and May the figures were: 0.47 per cent 0.45 per cent and 0.35 per cent.
Cllr Church continued: “In April, short term issues arising from the route changes caused particular disruption.
“They were due to unfamiliarity with the routes, particularly in deeply rural areas, and some changes which needed amending.
“Many of those issues are being resolved as demonstrated by the improved performance in May.
“There are issues that have not yet been fully resolved but as they are I expect to see a further improvement in the coming month.”
Recycling questions answered
