900 tonnes of dog poo collected from Sussex town's waste bins

More than 900 tonnes of dog poo have been collected from the bins dotted around Crawley over the last five years.

The figures were shared during a meeting of the borough council following a written question from Conservative leader Duncan Crow.

Mr Crow said there had been complaints from residents about the bins overflowing and wondered how often they were emptied.

In his response, Gurinder Jhans, cabinet member for community engagement & culture, said the 471 bins were emptied weekly, with a hotspot list of 41 bins that are checked more frequently and emptied as required.

On average, 3.5 tonnes was collected each week, with the figures increasing during lockdown when more people took in a dog.

Mr Jhans said that a study of bin issues found that, between March 2022 and February 2023, there had been problems with 94 bins.

The biggest issue was misuse - often people dumping rubbish in them - while some were overfull and some had been damaged as a result of misuse.

He added: "The bins that were overfull tended to coincide with staff shortages or bank holidays.

"Additional staff have been taken on to cover the staff shortage and this study is being used to create a focused round to improve the overall collections including the holidays."