The residents of Thurrock don’t need anyone to tell them that their bin collections have been screwed up for a number of weeks now. The evidence can be seen with our eyes and smelt with our noses! As ever, Thurrock ‘calamity’ Council are blustering, blundering and doing what they can to shift the blame for their mismanagement of the service.

This is what Thurrock Nub News have so far reported on the situation in what’s actually, pretty fair coverage:

Council hires in bin crews to help tackle backlog and once again says sorry for its failings. 27.4.22

Political war of words continues as Tory councillors step up level of accusations. 25.4.22

Council praises workers and attempts to catch up on bins backlog but there are fears things will get worse when it switches to fortnightly collections later this year. 24.4.22

Council says sorry but it’s far from enough say workers – fed up with being blamed – who slam bin collection management and warn of major problems when fortnightly collections start later this year. 22.4.22

We’re of the opinion that to get the full picture, it’s best to hear from the workers struggling to deliver the bin collection service:

The statement below was first published on the Justice For Refuse Workers & Cleansers Facebook page

To the residents of Thurrock

Nobody needs to be told that there’s a major problem in Thurrock with bins piling up. We’ve honestly tried to keep out of this debate but there’s been so much absolute nonsense put into the public domain we felt the need to set the record straight.

The root of this problem lies in a decision by local management to completely overhaul the way the service operates. Before, many of us used to start at around 5am, we are now often not starting until 7am. Daily delays in handing out keys mean hours are lost every week. New 32 tonne vehicles mean that many streets in our borough are totally inaccessible.

Comments by politicians that we are “playing games” are inaccurate and plain wrong. We are working according to the system we have been told to work. We are not managers and we are not highly-paid executives. We do not have any control over the local work systems. To put it another way, why were the council execs thanking us last week in a statement? These are people we had a bitter dispute with last year, believe us, if it was our fault they’d be letting you know about it.

Responsibility for changing how a council service runs lies at the top, not with the ordinary man or woman collecting the bins. This is our borough too, we don’t want to see it like this. We are more than happy to meet with local and senior management to advise and help them sort this mess out. It’s often beneficial to listen to those doing the job.

Well-paid people have made bad decisions that have had bad consequences. Don’t allow yourself to be fooled by them trying to scapegoat others.