OPPOSITION Tories on Southend Council claim they would have grilled a waste firm instead of just dumping them.

The Independent, Labour, and Lib Dem administration in charge of Southend Council announced it was binning Cory Environmental, which has collected rubbish in Southend for 20 years, in August, when their contract expires in 2015.

The opposition Tories, kicked out by the new administration in May, claim the decision should have been open to more scrutiny.

Cory failed at the first hurdle of the tender process, where companies are invited to bid for the new contract.

Mark Flewitt, Conservative councillor representing St Laurence ward, said: “We would have immediately referred this perverse decision to the Waste Management Working Party with the likely outcome that Cory remain in the process to ensure this is a safe decision.”