THURROCK council has ceased collection of brown bins for the foreseeable future just one month after reintroducing them reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The garden waste bin service has been axed and there are currently no plans to resume it.
In April, prior to the local elections, the council reintroduced the service after a pause, collecting garden waste to be composted on alternate weeks.
Following the elections, a notice has been posted on Thurrock Council’s website informing residents there will be no brown bin collections “until further notice”.
The cash-strapped council, which is currently being run by Essex County Council commissioners, has previously warned it will only be able to finance statutory services. The brown bin service doesn’t fall within this category.
The announcement will be a blow to gardeners hoping to carry out a spring tidy up.
A council spokesman said: “Brown bins are currently not being collected. Residents have been informed of the changes through the council’s website, resident e-newsletter and social media.
Garden waste that cannot be composted at home can be taken to the Household Waste and Recycling Centre.
There is no formal decision on the future of the brown bin service, any decision will be made through the council’s governance processes.”
Last month the council announced it would temporarily pause its recycling collections in order to catch up on the backlog of uncollected brown bins.
The collection difficulties have been blamed on a lack of staff. It is rumoured the council will reintroduce the service but with an annual charge in line with some other councils.
Angry residents took to the Stanford-le-Hope Facebook page to vent their annoyance. One said: “Terrible service, especially now its spring and the garden will need sorting.”
Another added: “So much for recycling to help the environmental issues.
Well done once again Thurrock Council.”
I live in Chafford Hundred if true my brown is outside waiting to be collected as its full up with food and garden waste, does it stay there until council provide the service that justifies their 9.46% tax increase! Or do we all just tip the bins over in the road??
Not collecting brown bins is one thing, but pulling the service without notice is absolutely diabolical. You announced a collection end of April just in time for the election to look good. Why did you just say at that time it would be the last one? Then tax payers would not have filled them back up again. Everyone would have known to put little and often on their green/grey bins weekly. All you’ve done is compounded the problem, and left the whole borough the stinking, fly infested, heavy brown bins just as the weather is getting hotter. TBC you couldn’t organise the proverbial P### Up in a brewery.
I agree with both comments. When the brown bins were introduced it was so that our green waste/food scraps could be environmentally composted and sold back to us for £3 a bag. Ha ha what a joke now the service has stopped it won’t take long before the streets are stinking so wake up Thurrock Council and give us something back for keeping it Conservative and paying your ridiculous rate rise !!
I agree with both comments. When the brown bins were introduced it was so that our green waste/food scraps could be environmentally composted and sold back to us for £3 a bag. Ha ha what a joke now the service has stopped it won’t take long before the streets are stinking so wake up Thurrock Council and give us something back for keeping it Conservative and paying your ridiculous rate rise !!
My brown bin is now disgusting. If it’s not getting picked up. I don’t want it. What am I meant to do with the plant material inside that is now just slopp and maggots? I literally would rather I could just get rid of it at the recycling centre and just put what I can back on my garden or in the normal bin.
It’s almost like the commenters haven’t heard that Thurrock blew hundreds of millions on a scam and is totally bankrupt. If you think no food waste recycling is bad? This is just the beginning.
I am 74 years old with arthritis. How do I now empty my brown bin which is full and get it to the dump.
At least show some courtesy and give us notice of what was to come. Disrespectful and I wish I hadn’t voted for you now.
Thou I will remember this for next time we vote. Disgusting.
Typical, from a council who have totally mismanaged tax payers money, run up huge deficits and to top it all they have increased council tax so that Thurrock residents pay for their huge mistakes. I really hope that people just can’t be bothered to sit in massive queues at the refuge site and fly tip it in the road, that may wake them up, they are a bunch of crooks.
Disgusting service from thurrock council give residents a refund of their council tax and come and collect all the brown bins oh how much is that’s going to cost
Their be alot of fly tipping going on so they will have to find the money for that
Asking residents to take the bin to recycling centre GET REAL THURROCK
Poxy tory Council we pay 9.75 rise in council tax and they stop the garden waste pick up
Scum bags
Wheel them all up the council offices and leave them outside ,, it’ll soon be dealt with
I agree wholehearted I’m a pensioner and hav noone to help I wish I cud tip the whole bin outside the council offices!!, in fact just mite bag it up and tip it outside the offices bet they get the men to clear it up who suppose to empty our bins the councillors have no brains they r at the other end!
I’m beginning to wonder why, we pay council tax, we didn’t get notice, brown bin is full and starting to smell, the roads are full of pot holes and causing damage to vehicles. When are the council going to listen to the residents, it’s absolutely disgusting.
I’m beginning to wonder why, we pay council tax, we didn’t get notice, brown bin is full and starting to smell, the roads are full of pot holes and causing damage to vehicles. When are the council going to listen to the residents, it’s absolutely disgusting.
Disgusting service from thurrock council. Could not believe that they got back in after the way they mismanaged the finances of the bourgh. Why can’t they just do one more week to get these bins emptied then it’s our choice if we want to pay for further collections.
Thurrock Council absolutely useless! Soon take my council tax and send out ‘nice’ monthly emails showing the good (lol) things in Thurrock! Bunch of tos***s! My brown bin waste will be going in the bottom of the green bin!
Shameful criminals in many ways.
I don’t usually feel militant… but this has made me SO angry! How DARE Thurrock Council stop collecting brown bins with no notice! I, like many, have a full brown bin waiting for the next collection. You can’t stop a service with no alternative… and taking garden waste in your car (if you’re lucky enough to have a car) to the recycling centre on the far side of the borough is NOT an alternative. Collecting our refuse is one of your few responsibilities that affects every household…. So get it right, Thurrock Council!
We should all take and brown bins and leave them outside the newly built council offices. Not that anyone even works there!
Why don’t they do same as other council and collect bins alternate week that way don’t need more staff but all bins get collected not every week but at least they’re collected.
Also you charging for bin collection doesn’t automatically produce the staff which they are saying they don’t have
My brown bin still hasn’t been collected since February, it has been outside waiting for collection since then. It absolutely stinks and the stuff inside has rotted. Guess what it will stay there…
In that case, they can have the brown bin back, and I know where the scheming amateurs can shove it too!
How did this Tory run council manage to stay in power after these recent local elections, after the major investment scandal they completely messed up on?
I thought we pay council tax FOR SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE COUNCIL, so how can they charge us residents a disgusting 9+ % hike, and TAKE AWAY the services we should be provided . . . . And get away with it?? Surely this pure extortion.
Thurrock council take the piss put your pension up then take it back another way then don’t empty brown bins what the f- -k we paying for then yes your right a bunch of tossers
I still have a full brown bin, the council informed us that after 28th they would empty the brown bins, but instead the bin men emptied them the week before! I can’t leave my bins out longer than necessary, because passers by think they are there for them to use! I am 73 with scoliosis of the spine, so getting the garden waste to the recycling centre is a major headache.
There is £138 million missing from Thurrock council finances, equivalent to £750 per person in the borough.
Essex Police when asked said ‘we are not sure a crime has been committed’ DCI Barber at the Stanford PCC meeting in February.
WHO TOOK THE MONEY?
Thurrock council are a joke they should all be on trail for fraud then they increase our poll tax to re coup money they lost them they charge people to park outside there own house then backtrack on bins after local elections why are they allowed to get away with this if it was me or you we would be nicked for fraud the silence is deafening
If we pay for the brown bin to be emptied they can find the staff that they couldn’t find before , the worst thing is how many of you moaning now voted them back in .
Why not ask the financial director of Thurrock to ask his other half to pay and claim it on her MPs expenses (J.D.P.)
Council Tax UP Service Down.
Surprise they still won the election.
Conservatives are the BEST YAY!!
This is disgusting we pay our council tax and we are not getting proper services, so our council tax should be cut.
It is getting a proper joke with this thurrock council not only we are not getting our brown bins we having to pay for parking as well totally out of order. Someone should look into this where is all the monies gone.
Going to cut the bottom off of mine and use it as a compost bin, or charge thurrock council rent for leaving it on my property.
Oh well everything is going in the green bin then grass everything not my problem now
If like the council says it’s lack of drivers then why are they not advertising for them . There are enough job sites out there but Thurrock council aren’t advertising because they are skint, wasting money on solar panels that don’t exist, failing to provide the services that we are told we are paying for. I bet who ever elected the conservatives back in to local government are now kicking themselves because they are helping to screw up the council and the country. So congratulations to them. Oh and I guess our beautiful countryside will now be blighted by fly tipping as people can’t be bothered to go to the tips especially those without cars like the elderly. Oh well put in your green bin like they told us to do last time
FUCK THURROCK COUNCIL!
You vote for a rubbish party, you end up with rubbish, it’s in your brown bin and the council offices .
The worst thing about this farce is the complete lack of notice. Putting a one liner on the council website saying brown bins won’t be collected “until further notice,” isn’t the same as informing residents that the service is being discontinued permanently. We’ve already got a full brown bin as our grass has been growing like crazy with the recent rain. Once the warmer weather hits, they will start to smell even worse. Thurrock Council is a complete waste of space (excuse the pun!)
I agree with all the above comments. This is a despicable act by Thurrock council. How can everyone just leave/dispose of their full brown bins themselves! What do we pay our taxes for. The area will go downhill fast. Glad we are thinking of moving out!
All these people have the ability to make comments so are using social media. This information warning has been on the Thurrock Council website about NO FOOD IN BROWN BINS for a couple of months now plus the Thurrock Nub News also initiated there would be no more brown composting collections If you have a garden you can compost grass and weeds yourself and do your garden a favour. Admittedly larger wastage of branches will be difficult but then that’s what the tip is for. We all used to manage years ago without all these bins. Get real people and plan. Be self sufficient more then you won’t have to pay the extra charge when it’s introduced.
I think it’s time to have a set of days protests. Let’s start by blocking the roads around the Thurrock streets starting with the town centre in Grays. Don’t forget to drag your brown bin there too. Please respond if you think this is a good ideas.
The council “lost” all our money in the Solar Farm Scam, and we have to pay for it in Council Tax hikes and lost services.
Why hasn’t anyone gone to prison, and who pocketed the money.
Everyone should take their brown bins and dump them at the Council Offices. Let the scumbags deal with it. They caused this mess.
I will not be paying my council tax.
Disgusting service my sister has ms had breast cancer.was promised kitchen last year tripped up lino.said this year to be done got no hope in this situation.bet their kitchens are beautiful.1985 it was last done well over due.needs to be done asap as it’s dangerous.living with me as stench in kit hen awful.so all you Tories hope you have quility for the poor people who need things done and brown bins
So, if the Council cannot collect garden rubbish from the Brown Bins they supplied (for whatever reason / excuse) they are technically storing their bins on our properties. Can we therefore not charge them for the storage? It seems everything spoken about this Council can be summed up in one word – “Smelly”
What about elderly who love their gardens?
All you have to do is wheel the flipping bun to the cart??
Make money by making compost
It’s ok for people working on tips and council to get rid of their rubbish
Take petrol money out of council tax
Our roads.. are a mess!!
Holes everywhere!!
Trees need cutting back!!
Windy days they break!!
Our shops pubs are going fast
Nothing for the young ones to do
Prices keep going up on everything.. yet things we buy are getting smaller!!
Old houses should be less to buy!!
Stop people buying 2 homes..
one home either rots empty!!
Get some frigging motivation..
Liven up..
Put me in charge .. only need a few people..
our streets would be spotless!!
Go abroad… their streets are unbelievably clean.. come on !!! Get organised
We have thieves.. running around taking what we have worked hard for..
Who / what is happening to OUR ENGLAND
I totally agree with all the comments made. Absolutely disgusting Thurrock council. You are causing more people to fly tip which in turn will cost more money. You assume everyone is able to take their waste to recycling centres. Wake up!!!! So much for caring about the environment. You’re f—-ing idiots
I’m surprised people still voted Conservative at the last election, despite how they’ve managed the council in recent years
The council should give us notice and at least empty the bins one last time as no one realised collections would be stopped totally. My bin is full and there is no way I can get it to the local tip.
The council should give us notice and at least empty the bins one last time as no one realised collections would be stopped totally. My bin is full and there is no way I can get it to the local tip.
This is revolting. Has anyone been advised about brown bin items? We were told that non garden waste can be placed in our green bins for collecting. Does this still apply? Our collection team work hard, if some are at times sloppy. Maybe that’s due to time restraints. In essence I’m disappointed, but not surprised about us the residents plight.
This is crazy. Most people already have garden waste in their bins. How are you supposed to take future waste to the dump. My hedge cuttings alone will fill a number of black sacks and they wouldn’t all fit into the boot of my car for one run.
So you have brown bins all over the borough full of stinking kitchen and garden waste, a health hazard, more plastic sacks in circulation to carry the waste to the dump, bad for the environment yet I can’t have a plastic carrier bag to put my shopping in because they are banned, thousands more car journeys transporting waste to the dump, creating even more air pollution, the hidden cost for extra petrol/diesel required but how do people without transport get rid of their waste, an increase in fly tipping, bad for the environment and a cost to the council to clear it up.
There is now a possibility that the service maybe resumed for an annual charge. How is that going to work? the council have stated that they don’t have sufficient staff to provide the green/grey/blue bin service.
So a massive 9.9% increase in Council Tax and now a fee based refuse service which they know people desperate to get rid of their waste will have no choice but to pay. There should now be a borough wide period of civil disobedience but as the great British public love to be whipped and lashed without so much as a whimper, the Council will continue to increase the pain threshold at a time when their very own constituents are struggling with the cost of living.
A 1st world country reduced to a 3rd world level of poverty and distress. Can’t afford a mortgage or rent, can’t afford to eat, children going hungry, food banks everywhere, can’t afford to live but lets increase the burden by hitting everyone with yet another bill!!
Typical of Conservative led councils, take away a service, but they never take away their annual pay rise.
Brown bin collection removal is just the start, next will be the blue bins, then fortnightly general bin collection, then they will charge extra for any bin collection, then it will go private like in America.
The Conservatives will eventually sell everything off to the highest bidder leaving the residents with appalling services. The sooner the Conservatives lose power the better, we are heading back to Victorian times, how long before they bring back the work houses
Happy days governors, high council tax and rising, abrupt cancellation of an essential service at a peak time: spring/summer.
Diabolical.
I leave in Tilbury and this can only make even better NOT.
Council is a Waste, and if we Stop paying there Taxes, we are taken to court.
What can we do, do we vote or March in Grays, let’s do something, why should we pay the price of there financial failure , throw out Conservative, im in whatever is suggested
Everybody needs to stick together and not pay their council tax! We are being ripped off services are being stopped yet council tax has risen. No action will be taken unless we stand together.
Instead of taking the brown bins to the council office we should lay them over all the pot holes. Just leave them in the roads.
I agree everyone should not pay their council tax we English are all mouth we should do what the French do when they have a problem with the government ?.
I think we should bring this country to its knees , we are mugged off all the time why should we the tax payer pay for the councils cock ups .
Thurrock has always been a dump and always will be disgusting .
What on earth are they thinking stopping without notice do like a few weeks ago and stop recycling for 1 week. Not only that but taking a full bin to the tip and when you get there Hitler at the gate wants prove of I.D. and then you have to carry heavy bags up a flight of stairs. We aren’t all 20 years old. Disgusting.
I am leaving mine outside on the pavement as I cannot move it as it is full, I have breast cancer and I have recently had an operation, so not allowed to move anything heavy, we are not putting that stinky pile of rotting weeds, grass etc in our car, you are having a frigging laugh at our expense Thurrock Shit Council, how dare you treat your constiuates this way. The pot holes are a joke also, insurance claims coming your way too and serve you right. So arrogant the lot of you.
Just to shed some light on how catastrophic the mismanagement of finances is at Thurrock Council:
Mr Jonathan Wilson (Thurrock Councils Deputy Finance Officer) said: “This is a grave position. There is a £469 million deficit being reflected for the current year (2022/23) and a further £184million deficit for the subsequent year (2023/24). That £469million almost entirely relates to investment related balances.”
As the Council avoided having to declare themselves bankrupt in 2022 and filed a section 114 notice. The notice means the council will be unable to make any new spending commitments other than for essential and statutory services without going through a newly appointed spending panel.
This means they legally do things like cut the brown bin collection as sorely explained above. This is the start of the conservative run local government!
Let’s hope some justice is brought about from the best value inspection undertake by the Government appointed commissioners. Perhaps some answers will be shared with residents around how this £469million was misappropriated and squandered.
I smell corruption!
I am leaving mine outside on the pavement as I cannot move it as it is full, I have breast cancer and I have recently had an operation, so not allowed to move anything heavy, we are not putting that stinky pile of rotting weeds, grass etc in our car, you are having a frigging laugh at our expense Thurrock Shit Council, how dare you treat your constiuates this way. The pot holes are a joke also, insurance claims coming your way too and serve you right. So arrogant the lot of you. Money pinching no marks.
Despicable!,Thurrock Council miss management of funds and we pay for it,I wish I could have someone to pay for my miss management of my funds.Should be in prison,all of them!As another person wrote,this is just the beginning!
This is because Basildon Council are charging £50. To empty their brown bins for this year year and then the year after 100 so you know they are gonna do them the same but all it will do is encourage fly tipping it’s wrong all they want is money like the parking permits we will have to pay for I’m not paying for everyone to park in my parking space I’m at work all day don’t get home till 6pm so not gonna get one I think the government and council want us to go to work get our pay and just hand it to them remember Robin Hood it’s still going on
So, Thurrock council can break their contract with the residents and nothing happens? Just like they can make irresponsible decisions without due care and diligence that cost us – the people who pay them – enormous amounts of money. The total cost will likely remain hidden forever. What about those without transport to the appointed refuse sites? The sick? The elderly? The low income? If anyone wants to form a group to pursue these criminals then count me in please.
Let’s roll the brown bins to the council office and they can do what they like with it.
Everyone is moaning about the Tories but someone voted them back in???
I think that this brown bin setvice is indicative of the councils general attitude to the whole refuse collection process, it could hardly be called a service!
Incredibly the Tories are still in charge of Thurrock after the council elections. What will it take for the public to add 2 and 2 together?
Thurrock voted Tory the last 2 elections, Aveley even voted a new one in, so why are they complaining. Get what you vote for!
….so what are we actually paying for in our council tax now, as they’re now emptying the brown bins! Mind you, they’ve always missed out our little road since the year dot! It’s been a disgusting refuse service for a while now for a few years. I didn’t vote for this Tory council to stay in mostly because of the bin collection (or lack of it) but apparently loads of people have voted for them. All I can say is…There must be a lot of stupid people about!! And Thurrock council should be ashamed of themselves
It’s the usual old tosh from tbc
So I’m going to use my green
Bin after all what are we paying our rates for.
Raise my council tax AGAIN! And for what! Really getting fed up with this useless council
I’ve lived on this earth for many years and have never seen an organisation so corrupt as Thurrock Council how the hell they keep in power is beyond belief probably rigged the election as well !!!
I can’t believe they didn’t give us all notice and a date for collection am 60 and my bin is really heavy wot am I meant to do and all the other people with these full bins I really think it needs to be adressed and they need to empty all these bins at least for the last time
Must admit how the Tory lead Thurrock council.played this out we are going to reintroduce the brown bins 2 weeks before local elections.so most people get a collection at the expense of not having a blue bin collected .then soon as they are reelected bang we have now decided to stop brown bins for the future.and also hit us with with extra cost on our council tax.hopefully this might encourage people to get them all out in the next general election
Out and out liberty, I want to know what the fuck are we meant to do when your bin is already full? Empty it by hand……… NO I don’t think so, why not just do a last collection so they are emptyed before they stop collecting them, so everyone’s got a brown bin that’s empty and no flys or smell. Fuck you Thurrock council I’m going to empty mine in the road when I see the road sweeper about,
It beggars belief that the local councillor in charge of the bin collections, who has really done an appalling job, was re elected to do an even worse job.
People need to stop paying council tax for a month – or dump bins outside the council offices. Any fine for fly-tipping like so is truly justified.
People need to stop paying council tax for a month – or dump bins outside the council offices. Any fine for fly-tipping like so is truly justified.
How convenient that they reintroduced the collection’s just before the elections and cancelled them straight afterwards. Let’s just deliver them outside the council offices, after all we don’t need them anymore and so they should be returned!
Not sure how the torys got back in.Thurrock council you a joke,.We pay our council tax now you do your bit by emptying our bins.If not like people say I will be bringing mine to the council offices, Don’t know how you can sleep at night ripping people off like this, but hey your use to it.Thurrock council are crap
Well mine going in my car down the skip tomorrow
Time to dump my garden waste in the general waste bin, I guess.
So glad a bunch of morally bankrupt Tories created this financially bankrupt district we have to live in.
Jokes on all of you for voting Tory AGAIN. 10% council tax rise, bankrupt council, cost of living crisis and you still trotted out to mug yourselves off. You’ll never learn clearly.
It’s an absolute shambles but I have to agree with the comment above, you vote for shite and you get treated like shite!
I have spoken to the council this morning and was told to put all garden and food waste into the general waste bin! What a load of rubbish! Literally!
Lee is a poo poo pants!
Another service lost to Thurrock rate payers, as a result of financial mismanagement by Thurrock Council. This will only increase the fly tipping that plagues our area, I wonder how many of our councillors have been to the Bucks Lane dump lately where you need a degree to dump your rubbish while being chased (advised!) what & where you can or cannot dump your rubbish.
PS are Thurrock council going to arrange collection of these now unusable brown bins before we start seeing them littering our Road sides. Doubt it.
This is disgusting if this is the case. I cut my disabled mothers grass 3 weeks back, and she has a large ish garden and her bin is full NOW the grass needs doing again as well as the hedges and there is no room. She pays for her council tax so what she meant to do with the cuttings, pay for someone to get rid as well as paying you thieves? I agree with another comment on here we should just tip the bins on the road.
Absolutely disgusting that the council have just pulled the service. At least give residents notice so they can plan what they are or are not going to do with their food and garden waste going forward. These bins all need emptying at least once more.
To pull the brown bin collection service without any warning is absolutely disgusting. As stated by so many above many of us have refilled our bins after the last collection and now have a stinking unhygienic bins. How does the council now expect us to empty those bins and get the waste to a tip. There will be many residents who do not have the ability to get to a tip. A statutory obligation to empty the bins or not is morally wrong when no prior warning was not given of the withdrawal of the service. Through the mismanagement of finances by the council now means residents are being penalised and possibly going to have to pay for a service which should be included in the council tax which once again was increased. At least provide another collection to clear the backlog and notify residents in a clear correct way regarding the future of the service.
No more if, but’s or maybe’s…. what are you going to do about this. Your Responsibility- Your Job.
*YOU CANNOT JUST IGNORE THE PROBLEM*
Looks like there’s going to be plenty off garden fires then !!
I agree with every comment,but who is going to be a hero and be the first one to take his brown bin and leave it outside council offices.Human nature says where the leader goes people will follow.Lets make that happen. ! !