As many of you know last week green bin collections were cancelled on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. A combination of the hot weather and a large number of operatives being told to self isolate ('pingdemic') meant that the council were short of crews. As you would expect priority was given to collecting black bins and recycling which meant that many of us (including myself) did not have our garden waste collected. There are no plans to return to empty missed bins before the next scheduled green bin collection.
Immediate action was taken to get temporary staff and normal service was resumed Friday and so far this week there have been no further cancellations. However, we should prepare ourselves for the possibility of further cancellations.
This morning I spoke with the Managing Director of North Somerset Environment Company, the business that collects our waste, who pointed out that green bins collections are being being completely cancelled for weeks by other nearby councils. Bristol City Council has cancelled them for 10 weeks, Somerset County Council for 6 weeks, and Bath and North East Somerset Council for 4 weeks. So, although we are OK at the moment we may see further cancellations. I have been assured that we are doing everything possible to avoid this.
One advantage we have is that last year North Somerset Council took back control of its waste services from Biifa. It is now a company 100% owned and controlled by the Council. I hope this is validation of that choice, it allows us more flexibility and control when faced with difficult circumstances.
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