BACK in January 2020, Cornwall Council awarded a contract worth £335m to Biffa for rubbish and recycling to be collected fortnightly and for a new weekly food waste collection to be launched.

That contract was supposed to start in February 2021, and yet, February 2023 came and went and STILL this service has not yet been provided, despite an additional £62m being spent in order to get ready for the new service.

Why on Earth has it taken two years for Cornwall Council to 'get ready' for a service that was awarded three years ago!?

The Skipper understands that 'upgrades' needed to be made to the Duchy's waste management facilities before this scheme could be rolled out, but if that's the case, why would they pay hundreds of millions of pounds for a service we can't use yet? 

It 'wheelie does' make you wonder whether the contract was for a set period of time and, if so, did that period of time begin back in 2021 when the contract was supposed to start? Have we already paid for two years of service we haven't actually received yet?

This Skipper has all but lost faith in the powers that be to handle taxpayer money in a sensible and responsible way.

Hopefully, I am proven wrong in this instance.