Agreement that ended last year's strike brings reorganisation that promises to deliver greater efficiency

Joanne Ginley

NEW bin routes are to be introduced across Leeds later this month which will save the city council 2.4m a year.

The productivity measures formed part of the agreement that ended last year’s bin strike in the city and included a reorganisation of the city’s inefficient bin routes.

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Leeds City Council says some bin collection days will change but overhauling the city’s refuse and recycling collection routes will make them more efficient, leading to considerable savings in the cost of running the service.

It was originally thought that the move would save an estimated 2m a year but last night council chiefs said it would now be able to slash its budget by 2.4m as a result of the changes.

Coun Tom Murray, the council’s executive member for environmental services, said: “We have been working closely with our refuse collection crews and trade unions in planning these new routes and working practices and we’re really pleased at the outcome.

“Thanks to this detailed planning we will be making even greater savings for the city than we first hoped. This will mean we’ll be able to plough 2.4m a year back into frontline services thanks to a modern, efficient refuse collection service.

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“Some people will have changes to their collection days, but everyone affected will be informed in plenty of time and we ask residents to bear with us as the new system gets under way.”

The bin crews have been helping in planning and testing out the new routes.

Some bin collection days will change but one of the main benefits to residents will be that refuse crews will be working together to ensure all bins in each area are picked up on the right day.

Crews currently collect from a specified route. However, from Monday, October 25, refuse collectors and drivers in groups of trucks will work together in teams to ensure all households in a particular area or zone have their bins emptied that day.

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The new zone-style working will mean that if one crew is held up for any reason other crews in the area can help them once their streets are completed. Reports of missed bins will also be able to be dealt with more rapidly.

Householders will also benefit from revisions to routes which will mean that black and green bins will be collected on the same day of the week in nearly all cases. Currently in some areas these days differ.

Striking bin crews and street cleansing staff staged a walkout last autumn which left the city’s bins overflowing as collections were hit. Achieving alterations to the rounds has been a long-standing aim of council bosses in the city who argue it will save money, make the service more efficient and allow them to expand kerbside recycling collections.

Leeds currently recycles about 30 per cent of its household waste and the council wants to hit a 50 per cent target by 2020.

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The council will be sending a newsletter to all householders across the city, apart from in high-rise blocks where bins are not put out for collection, from around mid-October. It will give details of collection days, along with calendar stickers for bins and information about Christmas bin collections.

Information about the new- look services will be posted on the council’s website at www.leeds.gov.uk over the coming weeks. Residents can search for their current bin collection days by putting their postcode into a search box on the website. This will be updated with the new days as the new routes go live.