Residents who had expected a normal bin collection last week were confused by council leaflets, council bosses have said.
People living in areas of Northampton including Manning Road, in Moulton Leys, and areas of Duston had been told via leaflets through their letterboxes that their brown garden waste bins would not be collected last week.
Residents assumed it meant their overflowing black bins would get a much-needed extra collection after New Year celebrations, as in previous years.
As a result, hundreds of residents left bins in the street for days on end but the council has said they misunderstood its instructions.
Councillor John Caswell, Northampton Borough Council cabinet member for the environment, said yesterday: “The black bins will be emptied this week on their normal black bin collection.
“Brown bins were suspended over Christmas and it would seem that residents thought they would be receiving an extra black bin collection like they had in previous years.
“Rather than collecting extra waste this year we used the trucks to collect all of the extra recycling that is generated over Christmas.”
He added: “Although information about Christmas collections was delivered to homes before Christmas and the media helped publicise the changes, it would appear that there has been some confusion.
“We will therefore be working with our partners at Enterprise to look at more effective ways of getting the information across next year.”
Anyone wanting to check when their next collection day is and what bins and boxes they should put out can use the postcode checker at: www.northampton.gov.uk/recycling
 |  |