Countrystyle Is Delivering “The Best Service Bexley Residents Have Ever Had”

A Kent-based waste management company is driving major service improvements and delivering innovative ways to achieve major performance milestones by investing in new equipment and trialling new electric refuse lorries, as part of its commitment to serving the residents and businesses of Bexley.

Every month Bexley’s waste and recycling service, operated by Countrystyle Recycling, empties around 1.1 million domestic bins with 99.91% of these successfully completed.

Countrystyle Recycling has just announced a further investment of £450k in new street cleaning vehicles to keep Bexley clean and green across the 24 square miles of the Borough. Four new sweeping vehicles have been added to the Countrystyle street cleaning fleet. They will improve the ability to clean large easy access roads; increase sweeping capacity on residential roads and assist with shop front cleaning to help mobile crews access streets and footpaths with tarmac.

The performance of Countrystyle’s team in Bexley is a significant improvement on previous collection levels since the company was contracted in October 2021 to deliver the domestic waste collection service from the depot on Thames Road. The contract with the London Borough of Bexley also includes street cleansing and collection, alongside winter maintenance such as gritting, and the emptying of gulleys and ditches to avoid localised flooding.

At the heart of the success is Countrystyle’s focus on improving how it works with the London Borough of Bexley client, its workforce and trade union, as well as how it engages with local residents.

Phil Bovis, Senior Contract Manager, Countrystyle Recycling, said: “We invested heavily in transforming the culture of the operation, and all our crews now have an annual training programme, which has helped us retain a motivated workforce. Combining this with the improved reliability of our fleet through better maintenance, and investment in new technology, we have been able to focus on delivering a great service for local residents.”

“The trialling of the electric refuse collection vehicle currently is yet another example of what we are doing to improve our performance here in Bexley.”

The introduction of new efficient ways of working together on the waste and recycling service in Bexley which has driven the significantly improved number of missed bin collections per month in the Borough since the contract started.

Jason Jones, Contract Manager, Countrystyle Recycling, added: “Our improvement is driven by our commitment to being better today than we were yesterday, and planning to make tomorrow better than today.”

The improved performance has been welcomed by the London Borough of Bexley. Councillor Richard Diment, Bexley’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods said “Over the last three years, we’ve worked closely with Countrystyle to improve the service for our residents, and we welcome their ongoing investment.

“We are looking forward to working together to improve services further and we particularly want to increase recycling and help Bexley to be an even cleaner and greener borough.”