Residents in Gloucester are growing increasingly worried about missed bin collections, especially during the recent heatwave, which has heightened fears over vermin infestations and maggot outbreaks.
In neighborhoods like Barton and Tredworth, many have reported skipped waste pickups just before the bank holiday weekend. Labour Councillor Roseanna Marshall, representing the area on Gloucester City Council, noted that some residents have gone without bin collections for as long as three weeks. One resident in Hopewell Street, who pays an annual £60 for green waste collection, has experienced multiple missed pickups this year alone. Recently, not only was the green waste missed, but the black waste sack collections were also skipped on Friday.
Councillor Marshall expressed concern over the potential health hazards given the soaring temperatures. She also highlighted difficulties residents face when trying to report missed collections, explaining that the council’s website rejects reports filed after 4pm, leaving residents with no clear way to communicate ongoing service failures.
Communication issues seem to exacerbate frustrations. On Howard Street, for example, residents were not notified about cancellations in recycling collections, indicating a lack of coordination between Gloucester City Council and service provider Ubico.
Judy Cera, a local resident, shared her personal ordeal. Her refuse and garden waste were missed on Friday, and despite repeated attempts to report the issue online—where she was met with conflicting error messages—her bins remained uncollected through Monday evening.
Cera, who has paid for this service since February, has repeatedly had to chase the council for collections and lodged formal complaints. She stressed, “I pay extra for this service and shouldn’t have to keep chasing it up every two weeks. The council needs to fix the system for reporting missed collections online.”
On the other side, Liberal Democrat Councillor Sebastian Field, cabinet member for environment, acknowledged the concerns but stressed that Ubico’s monitoring shows high collection success rates, averaging 99.9% on time across the city. He encouraged residents and councillors to report any disruptions through official channels and noted that escalation procedures exist to address unresolved issues.
“I’m sorry to hear that some residents have experienced problems with collection,” said Councillor Field. “We take every issue very seriously and aim to improve services based on the feedback from our community.”