Gedling borough’s bulky waste and glass collection services are being suspended due to council staff shortages.
Gedling Borough Council today said it has made the decision to stop all bulky waste and glass collections from Tuesday, March 31 ‘to ensure its critical waste collection services can continue to be prioritised’.
The council blamed reductions in staffing levels and an increase in the amount of waste being created due to people staying at home in response to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Staff from other areas of the Council have been redeployed and trained up to assist waste collection but the pressure on COVID-19 is placing on the council’s frontline workers means there are currently insufficient crews to maintain all waste services at this time.
Gedling Borough Council said a decision to suspend bulky waste and glass collections ‘will be kept under constant review’.
Any residents who have bulky waste collections already booked will be contacted and given the option to have a refund or to rearrange the collection at a later date.
Portfolio Holder for Environment, Councillor Peter Barnes said: “The decision to suspend collection of bulky waste and glass has not been taken lightly, but it will have the least impact on residents and allow us to prioritise the other more critical waste services.
“For the last couple of weeks our heroic workers have worked hard to maintain all our collections, but it is clear that this is unsustainable at the present time and creates uncertainty for residents.
“Our staff are working tirelessly to make sure we can get the bins emptied especially now more people are at home and, naturally, creating more waste than normal so we need to factor this in.
He added: “We are incredibly grateful for residents’ patience, support and understanding at this difficult and challenging time.”
