Bin collection disruption in Southampton has seen a “significant improvement” – but the council leader admitted work continues to deliver a “sustainable” service.

Residents across the city have experienced issues since a new working practice was introduced in January.

Thousands of missed collections were reported throughout February and March.

Labour city council leader Cllr Lorna Fielker was asked to provide an update on the situation at a meeting on May 15.

“I’m really pleased to report that there has been significant improvement in both recycling and domestic waste collections and you would have seen this yourself in the reports that have come out and work continues to ensure that this is sustained,” Cllr Fielker said.

“As I have said previously, collecting bins is a basic service that we need to get right and I once again take the opportunity to apologise to residents in those parts of the city which have been affected by disruption.”

Last week, Cllr Fielker said the average delay for domestic recycling collections had been reduced to one day, while it was down to half a day for general waste.

Speaking at a council meeting on May 15, Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Richard Blackman said it was a “big relief” that there was now “some sort of equilibrium”.

He asked for reassurance that the service was sustainable overall in terms of delivery, as well as financially given additional crews had been deployed.

Cllr Fielker replied: “The work continues to make sure that those collections are sustainable. I don’t want to say ‘that’s it, it’s done, it’s resolved’ because I think you are a hostage to fortune when you do something like that.

“We need to keep an eye. We need to make sure that the route optimisation work, the training and development work takes place and we keep seeing an improvement and we keep seeing reports like we had last week.”

The leader of the council said there had been an additional cost.

She told Cllr Blackman she did not know the exact figure but would ask that this be provided to him in writing.

Disruption to the bin service started after council refuse collectors moved to a new working practice.

In the past, they had a ‘task and finish’ arrangement, which allowed them to finish early if all of their rounds were completed.

Since January, the collection teams have been required to work their contracted hours.

Council leaders said this change in practice was to “cap” an equal pay liability that had arisen.