Harrogate council apologises after waste and recycling go uncollected

Dozens of complaints about rubbish going uncollected across the Harrogate district have been levelled at the borough council, after the authority undertook a major revamp of its bin collection routes.

In a statement posted on the council's social media accounts, the authority apologised for rubbish going uncollected, stating a number of "teething issues" had been identified during the route change over the last fortnight.

Complaints: Waste and recycling around parts of Harrogate has gone uncollected, following a major route change by the council.placeholder image
Complaints: Waste and recycling around parts of Harrogate has gone uncollected, following a major route change by the council.

"As you can imagine, changing collection routes for around 75,000 properties over 500 square miles was never going to be an easy task, and we've identified a small number of teething issues that need ironing out," their statement said.

"We could give you a cliche about Rome not being built in a day, but we won't."

It came as multiple residents took to Twitter to express their frustrations over the collection.

One local said there had been issues at Starbeck, while another stating their recycling hadn't been collected for a fortnight.

Another resident said garbage in Hookstone Chase still hadn't been collected by Thursday afternoon following the route change.

The council said that work was underway to address the backlog, with a goal of having caught up by the end of Saturday.

Residents are urged to keep their waste and recycling out so crews can collect it.

Issues can be reported at https://my.harrogate.gov.uk/MyServices

Lachlan Leeming, Local Democracy Reporter

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