One million bin or recycling collections have been missed in Swindon since May last year with critics slamming the local council for "brought to its knees".

Tory councillors claim that been between May 18 and late November, under an old collection system, 572,399 homes had missed collections - a 12 per cent failure rate.

While a new structure - introduced on November 27 until February 15 - saw the failure rate surge to a 43 per cent, with 476,100 homes missing collections.

Tory councillors have calculated the immense number of missing collections based on a bin not collected on its allocated day and counting each extra day it remains uncollected as another separate missed collection.

The Labour administration has disputed the allegations, saying the numbers include "double and triple counting" and that such an example is more accurately just one missed collection.

Councillor Gary Sumner, leader of the opposition Conservative group, attacked the bin system and described it as a "shambles".

"It doesn't matter whether you look at the old system of rubbish collection in Swindon or the new system introduced, it has been a shambles all year," he told the Swindon Advertiser.

"Swindon had a two-month summer bin crisis because staff were encouraged to go on holiday without backfilling shifts. December was the start of the new collection system and it went very well, but January has seen the service brought to its knees with an average 70 per cent of homes missed.

"The council is playing catch-up and chasing the problem instead of fixing it.

"The staff in the recycling service have been doing a fantastic job but have found themselves working under greater pressure due to timing of the rollout and lack of dedicated project support."