CONTRACTORS responsible for waste and recycling collections across North Somerset have been fined £61,000 for getting behind with collections following the Christmas and new year holidays.

May Gurney, which was awarded the £10 million contract for waste collections in 2010, got behind with recycling and food collections following a surge in the levels of rubbish being put out over Christmas and the new year.

The delays prompted 7,000 complaints to the authority about missed and late collections.

During the festive season May Gurney recorded a 45 per cent increase in the amount of waste being recycled – compared to an increase of 20 per cent nationally.

Under their contract with the authority, which runs for seven years, May Gurney is fined £35 for every unjustified missed collection.

Once a missed collection is reported it must be collected within two days. If the same collection is missed again within a three-month period, May Gurney can be fined £200.

May Gurney was forced to draft in eight additional vehicles over the festive period to collect the waste.

Collectors saw big increases in the amount of food waste and glass put out for recycling, with cardboard packaging being the main reason for the large increase in tonnages.

The increase meant that trucks were getting filled more quickly and had to make additional trips to the recycling centre to unload – also causing delays.

North Somerset Council leaders have already held crunch talks with May Gurney and further meetings are due to take place this week.

Council bosses are asking May Gurney to put in extra resources to make sure they can meet the needs of the contract.

There are 94,000 properties across the district which receive a weekly recycling and food waste collection.

General household rubbish and green waste is collected fortnightly.

North Somerset Council executive member for environment, Councillor Peter Bryant, said: "The fines are the authority's way of ensuring the requirements of the waste contract are met.

"We have already held meetings with May Gurney and plan to put forward a set of measures which both the council and May Gurney is happy can be met.

"I want to assure everyone that this service will get better once these issues are resolved."

A spokesman for May Gurney said: "We are sorry for the delays that some residents experienced in their refuse and recycling collections after Christmas.

"We experienced exceptionally high volumes of rubbish and recyclable materials after the holiday season and it took longer than we would have wished to get back to a normal service."

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