Icy conditions disrupt council waste collections

Councils have had to rearrange waste and recycling collections after plummeting temperatures and “treacherous conditions” caused safety risks and access problems this week.

Collections were cancelled by Aylesbury Vale district council, Sandwell metropolitan borough council and Walsall metropolitan borough council, while Dudley metropolitan borough council had to partly suspend its service when icy conditions prevented vehicles from accessing smaller side roads.

In response to the unforeseen problems, the councils in question plan to run extra services on their next scheduled collection days to cater for all households that were missed, with some allowing side waste as well.

Rearrange

In Walsall, residual waste collections from around 20,000 households were disrupted yesterday (January 6) and the council's in-house team is now working its way through a backlog of collections with operatives working as normal today. The council has also told residents that they can leave three bags of side waste in time for the next scheduled collection on Tuesday January 13.

Councillor Rachel Walker, cabinet member for the environment at Walsall council, said: “We are pleased to say that collections should be by and large back to normal today although there are still some side roads that may give cause for concern.”

“The Redhouse estate in Aldridge has been particularly badly affected by the icy conditions and if we are unable to carry out collections today a crew will be allocated to do so tomorrow,” she added.

Meanwhile, nearby Dudley council has explained that it intends to run additional services to cater for the missed collections and a spokesman for Sandwell council said it was now “back on track” after a number of streets on collection rounds were “basically like ice rinks” which the collection trucks could not access yesterday.

Injury

In Aylesbury Vale, the council reported that “a number of refuse collectors had to be treated for injuries as a result of slipping on icy footpaths” before its in-house collections were cancelled yesterday (January 6) on the grounds of being too dangerous.

The council explained that household waste collections would take place on Monday, January 12, but recycling would be on its next regular collection day – in either two or four week's time. In the meantime, corporate director for services, Nigel Brooke, urged residents to make use of household waste and recycling centres in Aylesbury or Birmingham to dispose of recyclable material before then.

Mr Brooke said: “With icy conditions set to continue for the rest of the week, residents are advised to listen to local radio stations for news of collections or to check the council's website in case of further disruption to services. News about cancelled collections will be on the home page. We will update the website as soon as we know if we will be collecting refuse and recycling tomorrow and subsequent days.”

The issue of garden waste has caused another concern during the drop in temperature, as residents have complained of refuse freezing to the inside of bins when left outside for collection.

Amy Troner, senior recycling and waste management officer at Preston city council, told letsrecycle.com: “We are getting a lot of complaints that it is happening with garden waste, all we can do is wait for it to thaw. However, I have not heard of it happening with food waste, as garden waste is usually in a container kept outside and collected every fortnight, while food waste caddies tend be inside and are collected once a week.”

Despite the cold weather, Oxford city council, which recorded one of the night's lowest temperatures at -12C, claimed that there had been “no disruption” to its planned collection service.