Senior officers from the Bryson Group who manage the contract for 90,000 collections per week across the Borough, attended the meeting following an invitation from Elected Members to provide an update on the waste harmonisation project and waste service collection issues.
The Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Councillor Leah Kirkpatrick, welcomed the senior officers to the meeting before reading out a statement that encapsulated the sentiments voiced during a Special Council Meeting held last week.
While the statement recognised the significant role Bryson Recycling plays within the wider Bryson Group, a charitable organisation, and additionally as a key employer in our Borough; it also highlighted the recent unacceptable levels of service which has affected constituents across the whole Borough and sought clarity around strategies and contingency measures to prevent any recurrence of service failures.
Following the Mayor’s address, Mr Logan acknowledged and apologised for the recent levels of service which he recognised were short of the service the Council expects and has known for many years.
He continued by addressing the factors which led to the service issues and explained to the Elected Members the strategic measures which have been put in place to address the compounding issues and also their plans for longer-term improvements.
He highlighted as well as the normal teething problems experienced with the introduction of any new service, Bryson were also faced with a number of additional problems which included, driver shortages, a spike in illness early December and inclement weather conditions.
Mr Logan also assured Elected Members that the recovery plan implemented which addressed recruitment and training, a CEO War Room, enhanced communications and door to door visits, had significantly addressed the issues, and as of 19 January the backlog had been cleared.
He agreed that moving forward, there were many valuable lessons to be learned and that the Bryson Group had put additional measures in place which included , strengthening its communications with the Council, increasing contingency thresholds particularly during the winter period, conducting regular reviews at CEO level, and providing HGV training to trainees from its Bryson Pathways programme, aimed to significantly reduce the risk of a future recurrence.
He added;
“We know how painful this has been for you as a Council and the effect it has had on your constituents, and we want to acknowledge that it has also been a deeply challenging experience for us.
He concluded by saying We remain completely committed to doing our absolute best to serve you.”
Following the address, Elected Members had the opportunity to ask questions regarding the ongoing concerns, the recovery plan, and the future.
A Council spokesperson said;
“We value the opportunity to have senior officers from the Bryson Group in attendance at tonight’s meeting to address the ongoing concerns of our constituents regarding the waste collection issues. While service levels are not fully restored, we are seeing improvements across the Borough which we trust will continue until the high standard of service level is fully restored. We appreciate that whilst not everything is in our control we must now ensure that measures are in place to mitigate the risk of this happening again in the future. While we are content with the recovery plan and future improvements as laid out by the Bryson Group, the Council will continue to monitor and stringently manage all aspects of this waste contract and recovery plan until the previous high standard of service from Bryson Recycling is resumed.
“We would like to sincerely thank the residents of our Borough for their patience and understanding during this challenging time.”