Cynicism may have set in among Powys residents who did not see any action or response after reporting missed waste and recycling collections, it has been suggested.

The reported figures could also be the tip of the iceberg, as many people may not have bothered going through the council’s reporting process.

At a joint meeting of Powys County Council’s Governance and Audit Committee and Economy, Residents and Communities (ERC) Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday, July 15, councillors and lay independent members examined why the change to collection routes had experienced problems.

The joint committee was considering the findings of an independent review of the new collection routes carried out by WRAP Cymru.

The review follows the shambolic rollout of new collection routes from March, which saw rubbish and recycling left uncollected for days on end, causing anger among residents.

Before the rollout, missed collection complaints had been at 0.1 per cent, rising to a peak of 0.47 per cent in March.

Waste and recycling portfolio holder Cllr Richard Church took over the brief in May, replacing Cllr Jackie Charlton following a cabinet reshuffle.

Cllr Church said: “By the time I’d taken on the portfolio, the reliability of the service was already beginning to improve, and it’s continued to improve since.

“By the end of June, 0.24 per cent of collections were reported as missed.”

By the first week of July, this figure was down to 0.17 per cent.

The report explains that around five per cent of residents – around 3,500 properties – experienced delays and missed collections.

Governance and Audit Committee vice-chairman and independent lay member John Brautigam said: “I’d like to know why we are using reported misses rather than actual totals.

“Are they not known and, if not, are we taking steps to know what they are going to be in future?

“From my own experience, my bin collections were missed five times during that period. I reported them online four times and by telephone twice.

“As far as the online contacts are concerned, three of them are still sitting on my account marked as ‘in progress’, and that’s from March and April.”

He added that, when he phoned, the longest time he had to wait to speak to somebody was 25 minutes.

Mr Brautigam said: “On each occasion I was promised a call back, but it didn’t happen.

“My point is, if nothing happens, cynicism sets in, which makes this data less reliable.”

Cllr Church said: “The firmest data we have is the reported missed collections.

“We don’t know what we don’t know if people have collections missed and don’t report it.

“The problem during those two months was that there were repeat missed collections in certain areas, but measuring them precisely is difficult.”

Waste and recycling senior manager Ashley Collins said: “It’s the biggest thing that let us down through the process.”

He explained that when a missed collection report is now received by the council, it goes to someone who picks up the data and puts it into the system. If a crew is nearby, they are then dispatched to collect it.

Any missed collections on a round are highlighted to a crew and prioritised for the following week’s round.

Mr Collins said: “We do have a system in place. It did fall over, particularly in the north (of Powys), and we have been very keen to address it.

“We ask and want people to report it so we then have figures we can use.

“Longer term, we are looking to introduce in-cab technology so crews will need to tick off areas as they complete them. That will make them much more accountable.

“At the moment, it is all paper-based.”

The joint committee will produce a number of recommendations so the council can learn lessons for the future.