Residents of a small block of flats in South Croydon say they’ve endured more than two years of repeated missed food waste collections, leaving them surrounded by flies and the stench of rotting rubbish. Many have condemned Croydon Council’s recent decision to renew its contract with the same waste provider, Veolia, calling it “an insult.”
“It has just been a nightmare,” said Miguel Santana, who lives at Stag Court on Selsdon Road with his partner, Anna Larsson. “They left it uncollected for over 50 days most recently.”
During a visit to the block, Anna told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “There are flies everywhere and maggots crawling around inside,” she said. “In the summer this courtyard becomes a total oven, turning the rubbish into soup.”
She said the alleged repeated failures represented a “complete and utter failing from Croydon Council” and said the couple had resorted to cleaning the area themselves. “We put buckets and buckets of hot water and bleach in there because of the build-up. It’s just unnecessary, we shouldn’t have to do that.”
Credit: Facundo Arrizabalaga
Miguel added: “We are people who take pride in the community. We go around the area and litter pick.”
Ground-floor resident Ollie Duxbury said he and his wife no longer use their outdoor space due to the alleged smell and flies, calling the summer conditions “diabolical.” He lives in one of two flats that rely on the communal back entrance as their main way in and out.
Miguel and Anna, who have lived in the flat for nearly five years, say they’ve reported the issue more than ten times through official channels. Despite this, they claim the council continues to insist collections have taken place, even when bins remain untouched.
Anna told the LDRS: “They’ll message Miguel saying the bins were collected today, and then we go downstairs and see it’s exactly the same. We never get an apology, it is incredibly annoying.”
Stag Court, which contains seven flats, has reportedly suffered persistent food waste issues for over two years, despite repeated complaints to Croydon Council and its waste management contractor Veolia.
Miguel said they’ve exhausted every possible route to get the issue resolved. “I have done everything I could possibly do and they never come back with anything that tells me how they’re going to fix it.”
They’ve since escalated it with Croydon South MP Chris Philp, and now plan to take their case to the Local Government Ombudsman. In an email shared with the LDRS Miguel detailed what he called a “repeated pattern of misinformation” from both the council and Veolia.
He said: “We’ve heard every possible excuse for them not picking our bins up. ‘No access’, ‘bins already empty’, ‘collection scheduled’, and ‘contamination’ – but the outcome is always the same: waste left uncollected for weeks.”
Credit: Facundo Arrizabalaga
In April, Croydon Council renewed its waste contract with Veolia, awarding the French multinational a new eight-year deal worth £21.5 million. The agreement covers bin collections, street cleaning, and winter maintenance, and includes promises of improved services such as night-time collections for flats.
However, for Anna, the renewal has added insult to injury. “I think it is a joke,” she told the LDRS. “It’s also lazy that they don’t want to spend time to find other contractors who would do a better job. I get they’re under pressure to save money, but the amount of time that’s wasted – both ours and theirs – chasing this up is just deplorable.”
The LDRS has previously reported on other instances of Veolia’s apparent failings across the borough. In addition to repeated missed collections, the contractor has faced criticism over its handling of illegally fly-tipped waste.
Despite all this, Miguel says he continues to use the food waste bins as a matter of principle. “It’s got to the point where people just don’t want to be putting their rubbish in there, but I say we need to keep doing it.”
Anna added: “This is one of the main things our council tax is supposed to go towards. I mean, filling in potholes is a bonus, right, but collecting rubbish should be expected.”
She worries their experience isn’t unique. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this was happening across the borough,” she added.
In response, a spokesperson for Veolia said: “We apologise to the residents of Stag Court for missing some food waste collections and can confirm that the most recent collection has been completed this morning. We have re-briefed the teams responsible for collection and our local management team will monitor food waste collections at this location closely over the coming weeks to ensure the service is running as it should.
Credit: Miguel Santana
“Residents can report missed collections online via Croydon Council’s website so that our teams are notified to return on the next working day.”
Croydon Council was approached for comment but failed to respond in time for publication.
