More than 34,000 bin collections were missed in Leeds last year, with the council now speaking out on the issue.

Across the UK, councils missed more than 10,000 bin collections every working day in 2024, with 2.5 million missed across the whole year. In Leeds, a total of 34,662 bin collections were missed across the year.

The rest of Yorkshire was also badly hit, with 312,000 bin collections missed across the region, the equivalent of 57 per 1,000 residents, which adds up to more than double the number of missed bin collections in the North East and Northern Ireland. Nearby Barnsley was the worst, with 146,000 bin collections missed.

You can find out exactly how many bins were missed in your area using the map below.

However, Leeds City Council have now responded to the number of missed bin collections in the city. They said the council measures the number of bins missed by the number of reports they receive from residents who did not have their bins emptied on the scheduled day.

This does not take into account whether the bins were collected within the 48 hour council recovery target.

A council spokesperson said: “In Leeds, the Council makes around 25,450,000 household bin collections a year, which works out at about half a million bins emptied a week across the city.

“In line with historic national key performance indicators, the refuse service’s collection performance is measured by the number of reports from residents indicating that their bins were not emptied on the scheduled collection day. This metric includes all reported incidents, even if the bins were subsequently collected within the Council’s 48 hour recovery target, meaning late collections are still counted as missed for the purpose of this measure.

“Using this national measure, the current collection performance for Leeds averages a 99.9% successes rate.

“We understand that a missed bin collection can be frustrating and inconvenient for residents but, on the occasions this happens, it can be due to a number of reasons. These include inconsiderate parking preventing safe access to a street, road works, refuse vehicle breakdowns or adverse weather like ice and snow.

“Where this happens, we endeavour to reattempt collections within 2 days and in the vast majority of cases this is successfully achieved. Sometimes this can take longer, for example in during periods of extended severe weather, and on very rare occasions we may have to return on the next scheduled collection day.

“Residents can report missed bins on their street through the council’s website.”

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