Storms disrupt council waste collections

Severe weather conditions across the south of England have disrupted bin collections in parts of East Sussex and Hampshire today (October 28).

Borough and district councils in East Sussex and Hampshire were among those to postpone collections due to crew safety fears, after hurricane-speed winds of 80mph or more were reported across the region.

Wealden district council was among the local authorities in East Sussex to postpone its service, citing fallen trees and road blockages as reasons behind the disruption.

A council spokesman said: Please do not put your bins out. We are concerned that wheelie bins blown across the road could cause a hazard to traffic and obstruct emergency services, should they be needed.

Waste and recycling collections scheduled for Monday 28 October will now take place at a later date. We will be informing residents when arrangements have been finalised. Whilst staff will not be collecting waste and recycling, they will help with any clean up.

Eastbourne borough council, which also postponed its service, told residents garden waste would now be collected on November 2, while black bin collections will resume Monday next week.

Disruptions

Meanwhile, Brighton & Hove city council was also affected by the poor conditions, but a spokeswoman confirmed parts of the city would resume a reduced service where the winds had abated.

The council advised residents to keep their bins in a secure position and said it would continue to monitor the situation closely.

Lewes district council was able to resume some collections this morning, but warned debris on the roads would continue to cause delays.

Elsewhere, Havant borough council said residents in Waterlooville and Hayling Island would experience disruptions, with collections now beginning to resume.

A spokesperson for the Hampshire-based authority said: Frontline Service Teams will not be sent out until it is deemed safe for them to work, therefore delaying the collection service by a few hours.

Any non-collections of bins will be caught up with later in the week, and we would advise residents via our website and social media sites with further updates.

Normal service

However, many councils were able to operate a normal service despite fears collections would be missed.

In the South West, Plymouth city council reported no problems to its service after local news broadcasts warned of possible disruptions.

And, Island Waste also managed to maintain normal collections across the Isle of Wight, despite parts of the region having experienced gusts of up to 99mph.

Commenting on collections, the Local Government Association (LGA) told letsrecycle.com it was not aware there had been a large number of reported disruptions, and for the majority of councils it had been business as usual.

A spokeswoman said: Hap-hazard weather conditions can sometimes cause problems, but we would advise residents to take notice of instructions issued by their relevant local authorities. At present, we are not receiving any reports of large scale disruption.