Recycling services drop in latest ADEPT results  

The results are the ninth to be published on the impact of Covid-19 on waste services.

Recycling collections had risen for three consecutive weeks before dropping by 6% this week, with ADEPT reporting 22% of councils experiencing minor disruption.

The survey, which covers the week beginning 1 June, also reported an improvement in garden waste collections with only 2% of councils reporting a suspended service in comparison with 4% the previous week.

Bulky waste collections have risen to 57% from 49% this week, while 7% of responding councils reported the service as unavailable.

Responding local authorities reported 81% of food waste collections to be operating normal, which is a 5% increase from the last set of results.

Ian Fielding, Chair of ADEPT’s Waste Group said: “It is apparent that council waste services are operating at a new normal, with minimal disruption and most services running at almost normal levels.  Councils have been effective in prioritising resources at core services, and reducing levels of absence and disruption are enabling other services to be reintroduced.

“As we all adjust to continued social distancing and the implementation of safe operating procedures, there is still some inevitable disruption to services. It is good to see how well waste teams are adjusting to the new working conditions and I would like to thank the public for their understanding.”

HWRCs

Only 1% of local authorities reported household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) to be unavailable. Around 75% report minor or moderate levels of disruption among the HWRCs that are in operation.

This is an improvement on the last survey results, which showed 79% of councils experiencing disruption at their HWRCs, and 3% reported them completely unavailable.

Many HWRCs reopened on the 15th May, with others beginning to reopen in the following weeks. However, there have been high levels of disruption in the form of long queues and reduced services to ensure social distancing measures.

Staff absence

In the week commencing 1 June 2020, ADEPT said that 14% of local authorities reported experiencing “no impact” on operational staffing levels.

According to the results, this figure is three times greater than that reported in the week commencing 30th March, though slightly less than in the last survey.

Eighty-two per cent of local authorities reported a “less than 20% reduction” on staffing levels, a little higher than the level two weeks prior.

Disposal

ADEPT said that the effects of social distancing continue to be the greatest cause of disruption to disposal services among councils, with 35% of local authorities reporting related issues in the week commencing 1 June. This remains the same as the survey results published in the week commencing 18 May.

The next greatest reason also remained the same as the last survey, with staff absences due to self isolation highlighted at 13%.