Bin collections revamp will see council recruit 39 workers and buy new wagons

Bolton Council has revealed it was spending more than £1M per year on agency staff to empty the borough's bins

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Bolton Council are to recruit an additional 15 bin wagon drivers and 23 refuse collectors as part of a major revamp of the service. The council has also decided to increase its number of bin wagons from 42 to 49 and replace obsolete and inefficient trucks with the goal of delivering a more reliable and efficient service.

The move to recruit more workers comes as the council said it spends more than a million pounds a year on agency staff to work on waste and recycling collections.

The council currently has 12 twin pack trucks which have two smaller chambers and compactors so that they can separate recycling materials and paper and card during collections. However Bolton is the last borough in Greater Manchester using such trucks due to their age, increased risk of breaking down and long waits for repair due to the lack of spare parts.

A report giving recommendations for the revamp of bin collections was approved by the council’s cabinet this week. In it, Garry Parker, assistant director, environment and regulatory services, said: “To use resources as efficiently as possible, the recommendation is to consider a more flexible fleet for delivery of recycling collections.

“We propose to replace 50/50 twin pack trucks with single chamber trucks. “This includes an overall increase to the fleet from 42 to 49.”

Mr Parker added that the current system meant ‘increased reliance on unfunded resources to deliver the recycling service such as staff overtime, excess agency use and vehicle hire’. On recruiting more staff, he said: “The report proposes to increase refuse drivers by 15 to 54 and refuse loaders by 23 to 98.

“This increase reflects core, essential work that is inclusive of planned and unplanned absences.” The council will also recruit an additional team leader for the waste management service.

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The increase in staff by 39 will cost an estimated extra £1.4 million per year, with the majority of that offset by a reduction in spending on agency staff from more than £1 million per year to just £127,000.

The council said it had recently received a rebate from the waste disposal authority and this one-off sum would be enough to fund the new structure for three years. They said the purchase of replacement and additional trucks would be funded by the existing annual vehicle replacement budget.

A procurement exercise lasting around four months will now start for the new vehicles with delivery expected around 24 to 30 weeks after that.