THE controversial new garden waste collection service in Barrow has come under further criticism after email addresses of all residents was sent out online.

Members of the so-called Garden Waste Club, in which membership relies on paying an annual £35 fee to have brown bins emptied fortnightly, received an email yesterday.

In the email, FCC Environment refers to unprecedented high demand for the service and, as a result, collections were being changed.

Many residents have complained their bins have not been emptied as expected and now FCC has recognised the failings.

However, instead of sending out the group email so that other members' email addresses are 'hidden', one of the emails seen by the Evening Mail includes a full list of email addresses belonging to members.


FCC apparently tried to recall the email but by this point, the potential data protection breach had already done its damage.

One resident said: "The email contains all the personal email addresses of the people on my collection route.

"Not impressed at all that my email details are now free for anyone to use!"

The garden waste collection in Barrow had previously been a free service provided by Barrow Borough Council.

However, since April 1, and as with many other local authorities in the UK, the service has been handed over to FCC, a private company which operates the collections on a commercial basis.

The email sent from FCC states:

"As you may be aware, demand for the new service has been extremely high. Whilst we are really pleased that so many residents want to participate in the Garden Waste Club, demand has meant that collections are taking longer to complete than we anticipated.

"We are making some small changes to ensure that all of Barrow’s residents are able to benefit from a great service. This means that we are going to have to make some minor changes to the week that your garden waste is now collected on.

"You will receive a letter detailing these in the coming days. Please present your brown wheeled bin containing your garden waste at your normal collection point for 7am on Monday 8th May.

"We will then empty your bin as normal and your collections will continue on a fortnightly basis thereafter. In the meantime, please continue to present your brown wheeled bin containing your garden waste at your normal collection point for 7am on your scheduled collection day.

"Due to the unexpected demand for the service we are unable to collect from every household on Mondays. Our crews are therefore working hard to collect from affected households on the working days immediately following Monday.

"If your bin is not collected please leave it at your usual collection point so that we can collect it. Please contact us if your collection has not been undertaken by Thursday afternoon and we will arrange for a crew to collect your brown bin.

"If your collection is missed and you have garden waste from your missed collection that will not fit in your bin, please put the excess alongside your bin in a suitable container or untied sack. Alternatively, please email us on barrow@fccenvironment.co.uk or call us on 01229 317617 and we will deliver some sacks for you to use.

"We will, of course, take extra garden waste away whilst we continue to get the Garden Waste Club working efficiently. If you are still awaiting your sticker for your brown bin then please continue to present your brown wheeled bin as normal.

"Our crews have an up-to-date electronic list of all customers so they will know which households to collect from. Rest assured that we are extremely sorry for any inconvenience caused and we endeavour to have any problems with the service resolved in the coming weeks.

"We would like to thank you for your patience as we get Barrow’s Garden Waste Club fully up and running."

In a statement FCC Environment said: "FCC Environment can confirm that, on Friday 28th April, an ‘open’ email was sent in error to members of the Garden Waste Club.

"The email was immediately recalled and an apology sent to all recipients.

"Clearly this is unacceptable and we have launched an internal investigation into what went wrong. We have already taken steps to ensure this does not happen in the future.

"Please be assured that we take the privacy of our customers’ data very seriously and we comply will all the rules and regulations in this regards.

"We sincerely apologise for the email and to each and every member who’s data was included."