The Stockport council member in charge of bin services has apologised after hundreds were 'blindsided' when their wheelies were not collected.

Councillor Jake Austin said nearly 900 bins had not been collected and they were reviewing the situation so it does not happen again.

A July 2026 reminder sent to Totally Local Company (TLC), which operates Stockport's bin services, instructed staff not to collect wheelie bins where the lid is open. While that is understood to not be a new policy, the new enforcement of this rule left hundreds of people with uncollected bins.

People have been left angry as a result of this with opposition parties criticising the Liberal Democrat-run council over the situation. One councillor said: "It's all a bit of a farce from my perspective."

The change has been brought in because of safety issues caused by bin lids being open. In 2016, a Stockport bin man was left fighting for his life with a broken sternum and ribs after a bin dropped from the back of a lorry.

It is understood an open bin increases the risk workers might incorrectly place the bin on the back of the lorry due to poor visibility. This increases the chance of similar incidents occurring again as well as litter to spill out onto the road.

Now in an email to all councillors shared to the LDRS, Cllr Austin, the cabinet member overseeing bin services, said he had been investigating what happened and said the council would be 'completely transparent about what has led to this'.

He said: "As many of you will already be aware, the policy on bin lids needing to remain closed during collections has been long-standing, and is there to ensure the safety of waste operatives. The mechanics of how the bins are collected can fail when a lid is not fully closed or is missing.

"We take our responsibility to keep our waste operatives safe seriously – bin collection crews have faced an enormously difficult task operating during the recent heatwaves, and their safety is paramount."

"With that said, while it is policy, it has evidently not been the practice at TLC to follow this policy strictly for a number of years. As a result of this, a sudden change in practice to enforce stricter use of this policy has left residents (and [councillors] alike) blindsided by a sudden perceived shift in how their bins are emptied.

"We are all aware of how difficult it can be to navigate any change to how bin collections are done."

He said the decision was taken at an operational level in line with stricter guidance, adding: "While officers were made aware of this change in approach, the significance of the decision and its likely impact on residents was unfortunately not escalated to senior council officers, councillors or the administration.

"As a result, we were not given the opportunity to make sure residents and councillors were aware of the changes in advance, understood what they would mean in practice, and were properly prepared. Many of us therefore became aware of the scale of the impact only once residents began experiencing issues with collections and contacting their local councillors.

"It is clear that communication and escalation processes did not work as they should have done in this instance. Whatever the rationale for the operational change, residents and councillors should have received advance notice and a clear explanation of what was changing and why.

"We are reviewing how decisions with significant resident impact are communicated to ensure this does not happen again.

"Regardless of this, I am still ultimately responsible for how this is handled at the council, and I am sorry for the disruption this has caused our residents – and to you as councillors – who have no doubt had a substantial increase in enquiries from the residents you represent over the last five days.

"The lack of communication around the implementation of this change was clearly unacceptable. Residents and councillors should have been made aware and been prepared in advance, and I am sorry that did not happen.

"As an administration, we are focused on putting this right and ensuring lessons are learned so that changes with a significant impact on residents are communicated properly in future."

The cabinet member said they would be looking at how to deal with the at least 895 bins that had not been collected and they were escalating concerns raised by councillors. This includes those who need their bins replaced and Cllr Austin said they 'are close to presenting a solution on this'.

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