Waste and recycling services update: 13 October 2022.
- All waste cleared following recent strike
- Recycling collections now underway
- Love Newham Reporting App to reopen on Monday
Beau Stanford-Francis, Director of Public Realm at Newham Council, said:
Waste and Recycling staff returned to work on Tuesday 4 October and have worked incredibly hard to catch up with the backlog of waste collections caused by the strike. In just one week all waste has been cleared which is a fantastic achievement by the team. We estimated it would take a number of weeks to catch up, but the hard work from all staff has meant we have caught up on waste collections quickly.
Recycling collections have restarted this week and by the end of next week our waste and recycling collections will be back to the normal schedules.
Again I would like to thank residents for their patience and understanding during the strike. This strike action has had a real impact on our residents and we apologise for this. I am really pleased we have caught up on collections so quickly to minimise any ongoing disruption for residents.
I am also pleased to announce that the Love Newham Reporting App will reopen on Monday 17 October for residents to report fly-tipping and street cleansing issues.
The council is committed to ongoing talks with Unite to find a positive solution to this dispute for staff and residents.
We had further talks facilitated by ACAS scheduled to take place today (Wednesday 12 October). Unfortunately Unite did not attend, so these talks could not take place. We have asked ACAS to reserve a further date for talks next week in the hope that Unite will attend.
The council has offered a strong and fair deal to end this dispute, one that recognises the important work our waste and recycling staff undertake. We need to put an end to the disruption of this vital service for our residents. To do this we need Unite to engage with us and come back to the table for continued discussions.
We will offer further dates for talks with Unite.