If you live in Putney, you probably don’t need reminding when it’s bin day. The evidence is strewn across the pavement: rotting food, torn recycling bags, litter in the gutters, and, sometimes, full sacks of rubbish that sit for days, attracting foxes and complaints in equal measure.
After months of missed collections, overflowing bins, and unexplained delays, residents were told that the council was taking action: that pressure was being applied to Serco, the multinational firm paid more than £8 million a year to collect Wandsworth’s rubbish and recycling.
Senior councillors told a public committee in June that Serco was facing penalties, was being monitored monthly, and was being “relentlessly pursued” to improve its performance.
Putney.news decided to verify those claims and we can now reveal that after months of pushing, the council has been forced to admit that no formal enforcement action has been taken at all.
It has also refused to reveal how much, if anything, Serco has actually been fined, citing commercial confidentiality. This is despite the fact that Serco’s waste performance fines have been released by other London councils and in some cases ordered disclosed by the Information Commissioner.
Not only has Wandsworth failed to hold its contractor to account, it is now actively trying to hide the fact it hasn’t done anything from the public.
‘Relentless pursuit’ — or no action at all?
In the June 2025 meeting of the council’s Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee, councillors lined up to claim that action was being taken. Cabinet member Cllr Paul White insisted there was a plan in place and it was being pursued “relentlessly.” Cllr Sarah Apps praised the food waste rollout and claimed performance was “moving in the right direction.”
But perhaps the most telling quote came from senior officer Cindy Gardner, who told the committee: “We are stretching Serco to deliver the service that we all want to see in this borough.”
She described “better monitoring of crews,” “extra supervisors,” and a crackdown on repeat missed collections. Councillors followed up by confirming there were monthly meetings and performance penalties.
Yet when Putney.news asked to see the evidence — details of fines, enforcement letters, performance breaches, and any actions taken under the contract — the council admitted:
“No formal enforcement action has taken place.”
It refused to release any data on fines under Section 43(2) of the FOI Act, claiming that disclosure could harm Serco’s commercial interests.
Residents misled — and information deliberately withheld
The FOI request was submitted on 25 June 2025, following widespread resident concern and multiple public claims by councillors that Serco was being penalised.
Putney.news specifically requested:
- A list of fines or financial penalties issued to Serco since April 2023
- Any formal enforcement actions (breach notices, warnings, etc.)
- Any reports summarising Serco’s performance or contract breaches
More than three months later, the council has failed to provide any of this information. Instead, it has delayed its internal review twice, and has now missed the legal deadline for a response. The current waste contract with Serco runs until March 2028, yet there is no public data confirming whether any financial consequences have ever been applied — or whether councillors’ claims of pressure were true.
To make matters worse, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has already ruled in similar cases that this kind of data must be released. In 2024, the ICO ordered Sandwell Council to release Serco’s waste contract penalties, stating that it was “highly unlikely” such disclosures would cause real commercial harm. Similar rulings have been made in Lambeth, Barnet, and Camden, all involving waste performance data.
Wandsworth is aware of these precedents – because we included them in our letter asking for an internal review – and it is aware of its legal obligations. Rather than come clean, however, it has twice delayed providing a response, and given no explanation. This, sadly, is common practice at Wandsworth Council. We are continuing to pursue the case at the ICO.
The issue of waste management is next due to be considered by the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 26 November, a full five months since the last time the issue was raised. At the committee’s meeting that took place last week, hidden in Appendix 1 in the last agenda item, council staff noted that waste management is not a standing item — meaning that unless councillors actively push on the issue, it will not be brought to them again.
If you want to know why the bin service is so bad — look at how the council manages it
At root, this is a story of incompetence and secrecy. Residents were told that the council was cracking down on Serco. The truth is quite different.
The council has refused to disclose whether any fines have ever been issued, despite claiming that fines are the main mechanism it uses to enforce standards. It has taken no formal enforcement action, despite consistently poor performance, resident complaints, and a missed collection rate that remains nearly three times above the council’s own target. Our recycling rate is among the worst in London.
Despite the council’s best efforts to hide the truth, the sad reality is that the evidence of both Serco’s and the council’s failure is on our streets, every week.
I think some blame for rubbish that is strewn across the road lies with residents if people used dustbins for the rubbish foxes couldn’t get at it, I leave recycling bags out but make sure that there is nothing in it to attract them my black sack/s are in a lidded bin maybe a few reminders to residents to do the same may help.