Missed bin collections in Sunderland spark 1,600 complaints in just three months

Sunderland Council received 1,600 complaints about bin collections in a three-month spell.

The city council’s scrutiny co-ordinating committee heard updated complaints figures at its latest meeting.

It heard that between April and June this year, 1,951 complaints were received about corporate services.

Missed bin collections accounted for 82 per cent of corporate services complaints.

Of those, 1,606 82 per cent - concerned missed bin collections.

This included non-delivery and late delivery of bins/caddies, including garden waste.

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The council’s place management department – which covers bin collections – also took up 95 per cent of corporate complaints over the period.

Council chiefs say the number of complaints about bins should be seen in the context of the service and its size.

Other areas included 16 complaints for bereavement/registrars, 86 for street cleaning, 22 for waste management, eight for parks, 28 for the Beach Street recycling depot and four classed as ‘miscellaneous.’

Complaints manager Marie Johnston told the meeting at Sunderland Civic Centre that the bin collection figures should be viewed in the context of the service and its size.

A report, presented to the committee, said this includes the council servicing 1.6 million containers across the entire city, leading to a “dissatisfaction rate of 0.01 per cent”.

The overall number of corporate complaints also saw a 41 per cent decrease from the same period the previous year, with 71 per cent of complaints responded to within 15 working days.

Around 14 complaints were also received for adult social care, marking a 53 per cent decrease from the same period last year.

Chris Binding, Local Democracy Reporting Service