Recycling services remain disrupted by pandemic

For the week commencing 3 August, almost four in five (79%) recycling collections are reported by responding authorities to be operating as normal. This is 3% lower than in the week commencing 20 July, when letsrecycle.com reported recycling services were approaching pre-Covid levels (see letsrecycle.com story).

Minor disruption is reported by 17% of responding authorities and 4% report moderate levels of disruption for the week commencing 3 August.

By contrast, the vast majority (93%) of local authorities responding to the survey in the week commencing 3 August who provide residual waste collections report these to be operating as normal. ADEPT says there has been a “relatively constant picture” for residual waste since reporting began.

Collections

Three in four (76%) authorities who responded to the survey and who provide food waste collections report these to be operating as normal.

Eighty-seven per cent of garden waste collection services are reported to be operating as normal in the week commencing 3 August, slightly down on the 90% reported in the last survey. No authorities report their garden waste collection services to be unavailable, compared to a third when reporting began in the week commencing 30 March (see letsrecycle.com story).

One per cent of authorities reported the bulky collection services they provide to be unavailable in the week commencing 3 August, compared to two-thirds of responding authorities in the week commencing 30 March. Many councils have encouraged residents to use bulky waste services instead of civic amenity sites, which have been busy.

Up in relation to the previous survey, about three-quarters (74%) of responding authorities report bring bank services to be operating as normal in the week commencing 3 August.

In similar results to the week commencing 20 July, 74% of authorities report commercial waste collections are operating as normal.

Most clinical waste, street sweepings and fly-tipping clearance services are now reported to be operating as normal.

Disposal

In the week commencing 3 August, no authority reported their household waste recycling centre (HWRC) services to be unavailable, compared to more than three in four authorities when reporting began.

Nevertheless, 54% reported the HWRCs they ran were experiencing minor disruption and just more than three in ten (31%) report them to be operating as normal. The situation has not changed substantially since the start of June, ADEPT says.

All landfilling and nearly all energy from waste (EfW) disposal services (97%) used by authorities responding to the survey in the week commencing 3 August are reported to be operating as normal.

Eighty per cent of responding authorities reported material recycling facilities (MRF) services they use to be operating as normal.

Most transfer station, mechanical biological treatment (MBT), open windrow composting (OWC), in-vessel composting (IVC) and anaerobic digestion (AD) services are reported to be operating as normal.

Absence

In the week commencing 3 August, 38% of responding authorities reported experiencing ‘no impact’ on operational staffing levels. This figure has increased consistently as the percentage of authorities reporting any other category of impact has fallen, ADEPT says.

Sixty-one per cent of authorities reported a ‘less than 20% reduction’ in staffing levels, with none reporting a ‘20-40% reduction’ on staffing levels.

Instances of the worst levels of disruption have not been reported in a significant number for the last two months, ADEPT says.