Over 160 notices served to Thanet council for bin collection - as strike considered
Today is the last day for the industrial action vote by Thanet bin collectors.
Last updated 20 hours ago
Today those in Thanet are waiting to see if their bin collection will continue - with threats of potential strike action from refuse collectors in the area.
The issue started when the council swapped to the 'Simpler Recycling' scheme in April, since then those across Ramsgate and Margate have complained of missed collections, leading to piles of refuse which have attracted local animals and potentially impacted tourism to the area.
Steve Keeley of Ramsgate was the first to serve the council with a notice over the issue back in July, in addition to his work as 'The King Project' where he focuses on issues of child custody, he started a new system to allow others in the area to follow suit.
Since then he says around a hundred and seventy other residents have followed suit, talking to Hits and Greatest Hits Radio Keeley said:
"What's been happening is the bins have been overflown, they've not been collected on schedule.
"Some places are reported of three to four weeks of not being collected.
"Obviously it's mid-summer, the maggots and flies are accumulating.
"It's peak season with the tourist trade, so you know things are, it's very important that the streets are cleaned."
On creating the form he added:
"We organised a form, an easy form for them to fill out, for everyone to fill out.
WAnd each resident could fill that out within 5 minutes and issue the council a notice and giving them 21 days notice.
"So we did that.
"The first group got 35 and then now we're up to 170."
When it comes to a solution his response to the council is simple:
"Clean it up.
"We would rather the council spend their money on the bins and getting extra staff to get the bin sorted than the legal side of things, because this is where our money is going."
Later today the GMB are expected to announce the outcome of their vote, if successful the next steps will be additional meetings followed by a potential further vote and then strike action.
A spokesperson for Thanet Council said:
Comment from Thanet District Council
"As of Thursday 3 September 2026 the council’s legal team has formally verified 165 notices.
"In line with standard procedure, any formal legal notices delivered to the council must be logged, reviewed, and processed by Legal Services.
"Our number one priority is getting the waste and recycling service running efficiently. This includes hiring additional staff and catching up on collections. Progress has been made in recent weeks in recruiting new drivers to add more resilience to the service."