BIN lorries breaking down and staff shortages have caused a sharp rise in the number of Somerset waste collections being missed – up by more than 50 per cent in the space of three months.

The Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) has said it is working with its contractor Kier to improve vehicle maintenance and prevent any further rise.

It has also promised new vehicles associated with its Recycle More programme will be used across the county from mid-2020.

A report presented to the SWP joint scrutiny panel showed that for every one million bin collections carried out in the second quarter of 2019/20, between July and September, a total of 1,718 were missed.

That was a rise of nearly 54 per cent compared to the first quarter (April to June), when 1,117 collections out of every million were missed.

Performance monitoring officer John Helps said Kier had “engaged a new maintenance provider” to address this problem.

“We continue to work closely with Kier on addressing issues that should help mitigate some of these issues,” he added.

SWP managing director Mickey Green said the rise in missed collections was down to vehicles breaking down or not enough staff being available.

“It is a small rise, but it matters to people,” he said.

“The two biggest factors are vehicle reliability and staff shortages. There is a national shortage, and it is difficult to recruit staff.”

Suez will take over the recycling contract from Kier in June 2020 as the roll-out of the Recycle More programme begins across Somerset, starting in Mendip.

The SWP has said there will be “a much more stringent set of standards for service quality” going forward, to prevent further collections being missed.

As part of the roll-out, a new fleet of vehicles has been ordered, which will allow both larger amounts and a greater variety of materials to be recycled at the kerbside.

Mr Green said that these vehicles would be in service throughout Somerset from June 2020 – even though the roll-out of Recycle More will be phased in gradually up to 2023.

He said: “Somerset will have the new vehicles throughout – just not the collections for which the new vehicles were designed.”

Householders whose recyclable waste has not been collected can take it to any of Somerset’s 16 recycling centres for disposal.

To report a missed collection, visit www.somersetwaste.gov.uk.