CITY COUNCIL chiefs have put in place a contingency plan to deal with disruptions to waste collection services.
The Coronavirus outbreak means there will be periods when the council’s waste and recycling team does not have its full roster of staff available, as some will be self-isolating. Staff have also been advised to practice social distancing while doing their work.
This is already having some impact, with collections of green recycling bins running behind schedule in parts of the city over the last week.
Now the council is asking residents and businesses to be patient and supportive, as it puts in place a system to prioritise services, so that staff can be redeployed to make sure the top priorities can still be delivered.
The services will be run in the following priority order:
• Black bin general waste collections, both domestic and business
• Essential street cleansing such as emptying of litter and dog bins
• Green bin (recycling) collections, both domestic and business.
If any black or green bins are not emptied, residents are asked to leave them out until the council can return to collect them. Residents should store any recycling they cannot fit in their green bin until the next collection.
The council has temporarily suspended new bin deliveries, bin repairs, and garden waste collections as well as the bulky waste service.
The Household Recycling Centres in Bilton Road and Hallow Road, operated by Worcestershire County Council, have also been closed.
Coun Joy Squires, chair of the City Council’s Environment Committee, said: “In these challenging times one of our top priorities is collecting your waste and we have put plans in place to ensure we can continue to do it while also protecting our staff as they go about their jobs.
“The impact of Coronavirus over the coming weeks may cause disruption to bin collections, which is obviously frustrating to our customers but it’s essential we prioritise our services in this unprecedented situation. We would like to thank all residents and businesses for their support and understanding.”
The Government has advised anyone who is self-isolating with COVID-19 symptoms should ensure all personal waste, such as tissues, is double-bagged and kept separate from other waste for 72 hours, before being placed in the black bin.
Visit www.gov.uk/coronavirus for more.
