As some residents will know, for the past few weeks we’ve been running a little bit behind on some of our waste collections rounds.
We are experiencing a few operational issues which have combined to mean that not all routes have been fully completed.
The first thing to say is that we’re sorry and we know it’s frustrating if we don’t come when expected. For the most part we have been managing to catch up as quickly as possible the next day.
The problems we are having stem largely from the kick-backs of the pandemic. Firstly, there’s more waste than usual. In fact, since April there is around 400 tonnes a month more in the brown bins. More volume slows routes down with vehicles sometimes having to empty more often.
In the interest of safety and to ensure enhanced hygiene measures are in place, crews can’t eat or drink in the vehicles while they are out and about. This means that they need to go to a safe place for their break, especially when the weather is bad, which again adds time in the day. And no, they can’t just skip their breaks. There are laws about that and we care for our staff, most of who worked tirelessly throughout the lockdown.
On top off all of this, we are also still short of some staff who haven’t been able to come back to work.
So what are we doing to rectify it?
Firstly, we’ve been putting extra crews out on overtime on Fridays and Saturdays when needed.
We’ve got in some extra staff to support impacted routes, too. They’re in the process of getting up to speed having finished their inductions.
We’re also hiring two extra vehicles and drivers to support the additional volume of waste out there.
If on your collection day it is clear that our crew hasn’t managed to visit your street at all and you can see your neighbour’s bins are unemptied too, please leave your bin at the usual collection point and we’ll do all we can to collect it as soon as possible.
If it is only your bin that has been missed you can log it via our normal missed collection webpage.
Thank you for your patience.