Residents of Coventry are experiencing delays of as long as three months when waiting for new bins to be delivered.
The issue has been brought to the attention of the local authority, which has acknowledged that such extended waiting periods are unacceptable. The council has indicated it intends to modernise its processes to address these problems.
The announcement about improvements followed a formal inquiry submitted by Cllr Barbara Mosterman, representing the Conservative group for Cheylesmore, who questioned why standard delivery timescales for replacement containers had become so prolonged.
In her written response, Cllr Patricia Hetherton, the Labour cabinet member responsible for City Services in Radford, explained that the three-month timeframe represents an outer limit rather than a typical delivery window.
She stated that in most situations, waste containers arrive more quickly, though this buffer accommodates periods of high demand, stock constraints, supplier delivery schedules and the logistics of distributing supplies across different areas of the city. The authority continues to review performance and aims to provide containers to householders as swiftly as circumstances allow.
The response noted that mean delivery times are not currently tracked on council records but that alternatives are under consideration for implementing a revised approach that would enhance how such data is captured, reviewed and communicated, while also streamlining operations and reducing wait times for residents.
Cllr Mosterman pursued the matter further during a full council session, requesting clarification on when a system for monitoring bin delivery timescales would be introduced and what measures could assure residents in the interim that delays were being addressed.
She contended that informing householders to anticipate waits of up to three months risked normalising poor service and establishing unnecessarily modest expectations, arguing that a more realistic estimate should be communicated.
Cllr Hetherton replied that Coventry is among only a small number of authorities that do not levy charges for replacing bins, yet acknowledged that advising residents to expect approximately three months is unsatisfactory. She recognised the situation needs to improve and stated the council is committed to addressing it.
She explained that the current replacement process relies on manual registration of requests according to city zones, but the authority is evaluating a transition to a more efficient digital platform.
She indicated that once this is operational, such delays should no longer occur. She stressed that the council has no desire for the current situation to persist but requires time for careful analysis, as decisions are based on evidence and the aim is to ensure genuine improvements. She acknowledged that waiting three months for a replacement is unacceptable.
During the twelve-month period from June 2025 to May 2026, the authority processed almost 11,000 requests from Coventry householders for replacement bins that had been damaged, broken or gone missing. Of these, over 4,700 concerned green bins, just over 4,300 involved blue bins, with the remaining 1,800 relating to brown bins.