Greater Cambridge Shared Waste News release – Wednesday 8 December 2021

Green bin collections suspended from Monday 13 December

Green bin collections across Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire are being suspended from Monday (13 December) because of the number of drivers and loaders absent – particularly with Coronavirus or self-isolating.

Crews are working hard to complete rounds that are scheduled for the rest of this week but after Monday (13 December), green bin collections will be suspended and are planned to resume on Wednesday 12 January 2022 in line with the previously published Christmas schedule.

In addition to staff shortages due to COVID-related reasons (sickness and self-isolation), there is a continued national shortage of HGV drivers as well as a lack of agency staff because of demand for them elsewhere such as in supermarkets and at online delivery services.

The suspension will allow crews to concentrate on emptying black and blue bins during the festive period when more waste and recycling is traditionally generated. Back in the summer, when the green bin service was threatened, the Councils gave advance warning that collections could be disrupted due to the pandemic causing staff shortages. This has now been realised.

Steps had already been taken to try and deal with staff shortages. Since September, Greater Cambridge Shared Waste has appointed 11 new bin crew members during a near-constant recruitment campaign. Six existing refuse loaders are also currently going through a driver training programme. However, with 30 members of waste operations staff absent today (Wednesday 8 December) it is no longer possible to continue planning to empty green bins from next week.

Many other councils, both in Cambridgeshire and across the UK, have already been forced to suspend their garden waste collection service.

For those residents that are expecting their green bins to be emptied this week, the message is to put your bin out as normal. If it is not collected on your usual collection day, leave it out, and it will be emptied by the afternoon of Tuesday 14 December.

During the green bin suspension, the advice for garden waste is to store this in the green bin or in a plie in the garden, or home compost, until collections resume. If necessary, it can be taken to the household recycling centres at Milton or Thriplow. As always, residents are being encouraged to waste as little food as possible, so they have less to throw away. For this period only, residents who do have food waste are being asked to put it into the black bin. Changes are now being made to update the online bin collection calendars at www.scambs.gov.uk/recycling-and-bins and www.cambridge.gov.uk/bins-recycling-and-rubbish to reflect the suspension of green bin collections.

Head of Greater Cambridge Shared Waste, Bode Esan, said: “I really hope that residents will continue supporting our crews and understand that the decision to suspend green bin collections is not one that we have taken lightly. We have done everything we possibly can to keep all our collection services going, by working hard to cover for absences as well as recruiting new staff. However, we have reached the point where we can’t do this any longer and must prioritise emptying black and blue bins. Please help out our hard-working crews by storing any remaining garden waste and leaves from this autumn and minimise food waste  as much as possible over the coming weeks and the festive period in particular.”

Ends

For further information contact Tom Horn in South Cambridgeshire District Council’s communications team on tom.horn@scambs.gov.uk or 07704 072 548

Further information:

At present, the collections will resume on Wednesday 12 January 2022 in line with the Christmas collection date changes. As the green bin collections would have turned turn to their usual 4-weekly cycle from w/b 27 December/3 January, the suspension is adding an extra two weeks to this, so residents will only be missing one green bin collection throughout the planned suspension. Residents are advised to check the websites for updates and for their collection days via the online calendar which have been updated to reflect this. If you have any other queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

For additional information, below is a copy of the bin collection dates changes over the festive period.

An update on contacting the Council

It’s usually easier to contact us online. You can do more online at a time to suit you. Did you know you can complete a short form to update your Council Tax bill if you’ve moved; report a change in your circumstances related to your Benefits; or report a missed bin collection? Just visit our website to do all of the above and more. You can also create a My South Cambs account, to see personalised information – such as your Council Tax payments or your Benefits account.

If you do need to call us, then please bear in mind that our Contact Centre has this month moved across to a single number for most Council services, which is 01954 713 000. This single number replaces the existing suite of 03450 numbers. This is easier for customers as there is now just one number to remember or look-up. It does not cost customers any more money in call charges than the previous 03450 number did. Please note that there are some exceptions to this new number, such as Building Control, Council house repairs or maintenance and out of hours numbers. Our Contact Us website page contains all the details.

We are also pleased to now offer residents who choose to call us a call back feature if call answering times are longer than usual. If the customer waits for five minutes to speak to us on the phone, the call back function will automatically be offered to them. Finally, we are also working on a webchat service so residents will be able to message us at their convenience online. We are working to make this service live in 2022, and further details will follow early next year.

Christmas bin collection dates: