Central Bedfordshire recycling collections resume

A council is restarting collections of dry recycling, a week after they were suspended following a row with a contractor.

Central Bedfordshire Council said its officers had worked "at breakneck speed to put alternative arrangements in place".

It added that anyone whose collection had been missed would have their bins emptied by 27 December.

One resident said she was glad the bins would be dealt with in time for Christmas week.

The authority said it suspended collections at the weekend after the contractor, AWM, tried to double the price of the service following a fire at one of its sites.

AWM said all of its other clients had accepted a temporary contract to help it deal with the aftermath of the fire.

It claimed Central Bedfordshire Council had declined to discuss any new arrangement.

The council said it was left with no choice but to find a new contractor.

The leader, Adam Zerny, believed the situation would be rectified within a few days but admitted it would not be easy to find another contractor who had spare capacity.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the council said: "Officers at the council have been working at breakneck speed to put alternative arrangements in place, using their own back-up plans.

"Without the council having speedy contingency plans in place, a re-tender of such a large contract would have taken months.

"Despite the inconvenience and disruption to residents, securing a new contractor is the better long-term option for the public."

Zerny added: "I am extremely grateful to residents for their patience during this disruption. I am delighted the council has managed to put a new contractor in place so quickly and is able to announce the resumption of recycling collections."

Grace Connolly, who lives in Dunstable, welcomed the news: "That is really good.

"I've got a baby and he comes with a lot of rubbish."

She added that collections needed to resume at Christmas "because of the wrapping paper and things".

Alex Maher, the Labour MP for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard, said: "It's been a worrying time for people. particularly in the run up to Christmas when we all know we've got more packaging.

"I think there still questions to be asked about how we got into this mess in the first place."

The council said collections would resume on Monday and it has advised residents to check its website for information about collections, external, because their bins might be emptied on a different day to usual.

It said every household would have at least one recycling collection before 27 December.

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, external, Instagram, external and X, external.