An investigation into how a new bin collection contract descended into chaos is underway.

Swale council is carrying out a review into the disruption plaguing waste services across Sittingbourne, Faversham and on Sheppey.

Residents across the borough have gone weeks and sometimes months without collections since Suez took on the £152 million Mid-Kent Waste Partnership contract in March.

Swale council launched the probe to find out why this has happened.

Over the next months, it will be looking at resources and staffing, data and rounds, contract and project management and communications.

The cross-party panel will be using a range of methods to get information and feedback, including workshops with council officers and Suez representatives and consultations with area committees and the parish forum.

It will also survey the public, asking about people’s experiences with the new contract.

Waste firm Suez has been under fire for its performance since after it promised to “improve reliability and provide a more efficient service” for the 460,000 residents it serves.

The problems were laid bare during a Swale council meeting on July 24.

There it was revealed that, up to July, 2 there had been 36,468 reports of missed collections since Suez took over. Things could get even worse, too, as bin workers are considering a strike over a pay disparity.

Loaders in Maidstone, for example, are on £13 per hour and drivers £17, while in Swale and Ashford, staff receive £12 and £15 respectively.

A ballot of GMB Union workers will last until Monday, August 19.

It is understood that Suez has also had to pay “punishment” fines to the councils concerned for lack of service delivery following the end of a three-month grace period on June 25.

Details of the cost and frequency of these have not been divulged for “commercially sensitive” reasons.

Cllr Rich Lehmann (Green) will chair the review.

He said: “We know the start of this contract has not gone well. We want to hold a detailed investigation into what happened, what went wrong, and how we can improve.

“Councillors from all political groups will be taking part in the review, and this first meeting was a constructive start to what I think will be a valuable process.

“We’ve agreed the approach we’ll take and fleshed out the issues we’ll be looking at, and now we will begin the work to carry out a thorough review of how the contract has begun.

“A key part of this will be hearing from local voices with their experiences of the service over the past few months, and we’ll be launching a survey soon to help gather these views.

“Ultimately, we all want the service to be running as well as it can, and this review is a chance to make sure we learn from any mistakes so we can work together to make it a success.”