Chorley is one of the most complained about councils in the UK for bin collections

Waste experts Direct365 has identified the local authorities leading the way in waste disposal, revealing the number of complaints councils across the UK have received regarding collection issues between September 2022 and September 2023.

Using data collected under the Freedom of Information Act, Direct365 contacted all 422 UK councils requesting data regarding the number of complaints about waste collection, the topic of complaint, and the type of bin the complaint was related to.

In total, 66 per cent of councils responded to the request for information, and after discounting councils with little to no negligible results 100 councils were used in the research.

Chorley Council came out as one of the most complained for bin collections. It received one of the most complaints out of all councils between September 2022 and September 2023. In total, the council received 5,299 complaints during the year, equating to 44.93 complaints per thousand population.

A large portion of the Chorley Council complaints were received in December 2022 (933 complaints) and July 2023 (659 complaints).

Although the top 10 councils that received the most complaints cover a range of locations in the UK, in Scotland, four councils feature, including East Ayrshire Council (48.86 per cent, per 1,000), North Lanarkshire Council, and Angus Council (52.50 per 1,000), and Aberdeenshire Council (70.89 per 1,000).

Additionally, in the north, Chorley Council and Westmorland and Furness Council received low levels of satisfaction from their residents. However, only Lancaster made it into the top 5 most complained about councils, receiving 52.51 complaints per 1,000 residents.

Additionally, damage to bins and poor service quality were another common complaint that councils received. The 5,740 damage complaints received were primarily about staff returning bins with broken lids and cracks in them while 9,004 service complaints were recorded. These related to issues around late collections, spillages, lack of collections due to location.