Croydon (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Residents of a South Croydon block of flats endure over two years of missed food waste collections, sparking health concerns over council inaction.
The recent decision by Croydon Council to extend its contract with Veolia, the same garbage contractor, has been denounced by many as “an insult.”
“It has just been a nightmare,”
said Miguel Santana, who lives at Stag Court on Selsdon Road with his partner, Anna Larsson.
“They left it uncollected for over 50 days most recently.”
During a visit to the block, Anna told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS):
“There are flies everywhere and maggots crawling around inside,”
she said.
“In the summer this courtyard becomes a total oven, turning the rubbish into soup.”
She claimed that the pair had turned to cleaning the area themselves because of the alleged recurrent failures, which constituted a “complete and utter failing from Croydon Council.”
“We put buckets and buckets of hot water and bleach in there because of the build-up. It’s just unnecessary, we shouldn’t have to do that.”
Miguel added:
“We are people who take pride in the community. We go around the area and litter pick.”
Ollie Duxbury, a ground-floor resident, described the summer weather as “diabolical,” saying he and his wife no longer use their outdoor area because of the claimed bugs and stench. He lives in one of two apartments that are accessed and exited primarily through the shared rear entrance.
After living in the apartment for almost five years, Miguel and Anna claim to have reported the problem more than ten times via the proper channels.
Anna told the LDRS:
“They’ll message Miguel saying the bins were collected today, and then we go downstairs and see it’s exactly the same. We never get an apology, it is incredibly annoying.”
Stag Court, which contains seven flats, has reportedly suffered persistent food waste issues for over two years, despite repeated complaints to Croydon Council and its waste management contractor Veolia.
Miguel said they’ve exhausted every possible route to get the issue resolved.
“I have done everything I could possibly do and they never come back with anything that tells me how they’re going to fix it.”
They’ve since escalated it with Croydon South MP Chris Philp, and now plan to take their case to the Local Government Ombudsman. In an email shared with the LDRS Miguel detailed what he called a “repeated pattern of misinformation” from both the council and Veolia.
He said:
“We’ve heard every possible excuse for them not picking our bins up. ‘No access’, ‘bins already empty’, ‘collection scheduled’, and ‘contamination’ – but the outcome is always the same: waste left uncollected for weeks.”
In April, Croydon Council renewed its waste contract with Veolia, awarding the French transnational a new eight- year deal worth £21.5 million. The agreement covers collections, road cleaning, and downtime conservation, and includes pledges of better services similar as night- time collections for apartments.
However, for Anna, the renewal has added insult to injury.
“I think it is a joke,”
she told the LDRS.
“It’s also lazy that they don’t want to spend time to find other contractors who would do a better job. I get they’re under pressure to save money, but the amount of time that’s wasted – both ours and theirs – chasing this up is just deplorable.”
Other incidents of Veolia’s apparent shortcomings throughout the borough have been covered by the LDRS in the past. The contractor has been criticized for its management of rubbish that was unlawfully fly-tipped, in addition to numerous missing pickups.
Despite all this, Miguel says he continues to use the food waste bins as a matter of principle. “It’s got to the point where people just don’t want to be putting their rubbish in there, but I say we need to keep doing it.”
Anna added:
“This is one of the main things our council tax is supposed to go towards. I mean, filling in potholes is a bonus, right, but collecting rubbish should be expected.”
She worries their experience isn’t unique.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this was happening across the borough,”
she added.
A Croydon Council spokesperson said:
“We have received the complaint from our resident and are working with our contractor Veolia to identify any issues with the food collection in his block. We are sorry for the problems our resident experienced.
This is one of our top priorities and we will continue to work with our waste contractor, Veolia, to make sure our residents’ bins are emptied on time and services are improved as part of the new contract.
We ask any residents with a missed collection to report it to us online. Once reported, these are promptly logged, investigated and resolved as quickly as possible to minimise inconvenience to residents. Keeping Croydon clean and restoring pride in our neighbourhoods is a key priority.”
How has the council responded to the missed food waste collections?
The council has conceded the problems with missed food waste collections and has enforced processes to address them. Generally, residents are encouraged to report missed collections via online forms or hotlines instantly, generally within two working days. Upon entering a report, the council commits to cataloging missed collections on the coming working day whenever possible.
Still, the council also clarifies that service interruptions can occur due to access issues, rainfall, or functional dislocations and advises residents to ensure lockers are presented rightly and on time to grease collection.
In cases where repeated missed collections have caused torture and health enterprises, councils have occasionally delved and compensated residers for poor service.