Maggots and flies found in uncollected bins in Kent
WATCH: Maggots found in uncollected food bins in Sittingbourne
An 80-year-old woman from Sittingbourne, Kent says her rubbish hasn't been collected for six weeks.
Claire Freeth has found maggots and flies in her bins and says it's a health hazard and embarrassing when guests visit her home.
She says she's visited Swale Borough Council offices three times, trying to get the problem rectified.
The council is currently carrying out an investigation into its current waste and street cleaning contract with Suez, following numerous reports of uncollected bins.
Ms Freeth said: "It's been six weeks since they last emptied the bins and they are just piling over.
"There are maggots crawling in the food bins and when I open the other one, flies come out.
"I'm upset and also it's a health hazard."
Vincent Masseri, General Manager at Suez, said: “There have been significant improvements to the new waste contract in Mid-Kent over recent weeks. However, we apologise that a small number of residents are still facing missed collections.
“We are actively addressing these issues through the deployment of additional resources and optimising our routes, ensuring we can continue the positive trend towards a more efficient and reliable service.”
A spokesperson for Swale Borough Council said: “We are sorry they have not had the standard of service we would expect, and that we have not been able to resolve the matter despite their attempts to contact us. We would like to speak to them so we can make sure we get the matter resolved.
“Following the introduction of new rounds with our new contract with Suez, there has been disruption to people’s collections. The service has been operating much better in recent weeks, but we know we need to make some further changes to the rounds to make sure everybody gets the consistent collection they deserve."
“This will be happening in the coming weeks once we have contacted those affected by the changes.”
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