Residents in Shropshire could be told to leave their bins out in bad weather if there is a repeat of the freezing cold winter which wreaked havoc for the county’s waste collections, a new report says.

As a result of the prolonged periods of snow and sub zero temperatures in December 2009 and January this year, Veolia, Shropshire Council’s waste services contractor, was unable to collect from many properties across the county.

The situation became so bad that people in neighbouring streets were experiencing different levels of disruption, with some receiving collections while others were missed completely with many putting the wrong bin out when changes were made.

A new report to a Shirehall watchdog next week says lessons have been learned and a new communications protocol has been drawn up to avoid the problems recurring.

The protocol includes a number of sections covering operational decision-making; the approach to clearing the backlog; communication to residents and communication to councillors.

In the event of a backlog the report says collections will continue in the order shown in the collection calendar delivered to all properties and residents will be asked to leave their bins out to “allow the maximum opportunity to catch up on missed collections”.

It adds that in “extreme circumstances” it may be necessary to mix compostable waste and rubbish in the same vehicle, although this will only be a “last resort”.

The report says last year’s prolonged bad weather affected dry recycling, compostable waste and general rubbish collections.

It says: “The disruption to the service however was not evenly spread, with some parts of the county affected for many weeks but other parts continuing to receive a collection service throughout the period of bad weather.

“Not only were collections affected to a differing extent from one area to another but in some cases neighbouring streets experienced differing levels of disruption to their collection service.”

The report also warns that the new protocol could present some disadvantages including footpaths becoming obstructed with left out bins and fears that people may abuse the system and leave out their bin following a missed collection at other times.

It also says residents could be left confused and that the bins could be knocked over resulting in litter problems.

The full report on collections will be considered by Shropshire Council’s protecting and enhancing our environment scrutiny committee went it meets next  Wednesday.