Goddard, the council’s streetscene service manager, said: “We had maybe five or six operational challenges that all came at the same time in a perfect storm this summer.
“Unfortunately, the heatwave was one of them and it was a contributing factor. We do have to prioritise staff safety above all else.
“My number one job every day is to make sure that everybody goes home safely and we take that really seriously within streetscene. That was only one of several contributing factors.
“That level of change is naturally going to cause a few bumps in the road, particularly with staff being asked to do a little bit more. There were some staffing issues during that period too.”
Councillors praised Flintshire residents for largely embracing three-weekly residual waste collections and ensuring that the authority remained on-target to hit its statutory recycling rate.
“Three-weekly was very controversial at the time it came in,” said Saltney councillor Richard Lloyd.
“It’s quite clear to see now that the three-weekly black bin collection has been a good new factor. Recycling has improved at the kerbside.”
Councillors said in the authority’s meeting the change to three-weekly bin collections meant the council should still hit target despite the disruption.
The council also cut the amount of waste it sent to landfill or Parc Adfer by 6,467.49 tonnes between 2024 and 2026, and that improvement continued this year despite problems this summer.
