Garden waste collections are being extended into the upcoming annual shutdown period to allow crews to catch up with services after some were suspended.
In recent weeks, Bath & North East Somerset Council suspended some garden waste collections due to an ongoing shortage of HGV drivers and staff sickness, to prioritise kerbside recycling and waste services.
Garden waste collections were due to go into their annual shutdown period from 6th December until 16th January, but the council will now be using the first two weeks of the shutdown to provide an additional collection for residents whose services were suspended on 11th November and between 15th and 19th November.
As some collections did take place during suspensions, the additional collections will only be for those rounds who had the service suspended as compensation for the missed collection.
Collection rounds suspended on 11th November will have an extra collection on 9th December as compensation.
Collection rounds suspended in the week beginning 15th November will have an extra collection on the usual collection day during the week beginning 13th December.
Depending on the method by which they receive their bills, each garden waste subscriber who has had their service suspended will receive an email, text or letter advising them of when their additional collection will be.
For residents whose garden waste collections were not affected, the last day of the usual garden waste collections will be 3rd December, followed by the six-week shut down period.
Councillor David Wood, cabinet member for Neighbourhood Services, said: “We are grateful to residents for bearing with us as we try to manage services as best we can in the face of staff shortages.
“We are sorry that some garden waste collections have been affected and have put these arrangements in place to compensate for this.
“Our crews are working hard to minimise disruption and to catch up, but it would really help them if residents could follow our tips for what can be recycled and to make the best use of space in containers.
“Particularly important at this time of year is to minimise black bin waste by considering resuable alternatives to wrapping paper such as fabric, newspaper or brown paper. Wrapping paper, including Christmas paper, cannot be recycled.”
To make the best use of space in recycling containers and to help crews with efficient collections, residents are asked to:
- Sort green boxes to help speed up the collections (having two boxes helps considerably if you have room to store two)
- Wash and squash materials such as plastics to make more space and keep your containers as clean as possible.
Things that cannot be collected in recycling:
- Black plastic, polystyrene, plastic film or hard plastics such as toys or hangers
- Any cardboard should have any plastic, sticky tape and polystyrene removed
- Nappies cannot be recycled – do not put them in your green box
- Wrapping paper (including Christmas paper)