The new waste and recycling contractor has had “issues with the reliability of data” of those who signed up to the garden waste collection service, North Herts District Council has said this afternoon.

Scores of residents from across North Herts – who have paid £40 for their brown bin collection or £35 discounted earlybird fee, as part of a cost cutting measure at NHDC – have told this newspaper of their bin woes since waste firm Urbaser took over the contract on May 14.

And now Councillor Michael Weeks, NHDC’s executive member for waste and recycling has said: “Unfortunately at the start of our new contract with Urbaser there have been some issues with the reliability of the data held on those customers who have signed up to the garden waste service.

“This has led to a number of brown bins being missed on scheduled collection days.

“Urbaser have been working hard to catch up on collecting missed bins, however given the inconvenience this has caused residents, last week we decided to collect any brown bin which was put out for collection, as a short-term measure while the issues are being worked on.

“Urbaser are confident that they have now identified the data issue and therefore we will be reverting shortly to only collecting brown bins of those people who have paid for the service.

“We will keep the operation of the contract under close review and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.”