News release
Thursday 19
February 2020
Green bin
collections suspended
Green bin collections across
Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire will not take place between Monday 23
March and Monday 4 May.
The Greater Cambridge Shared Waste
Service, a partnership between Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District
Councils, has made the decision in order to support staff and the recycling and
waste service as a whole during the Coronavirus outbreak.
The suspension of green bin
collections will allow crews to concentrate on emptying blue and black bins
during the coming weeks. It will also assist with any future staff sickness or
self-isolation issues.
As always, residents are being
encouraged to waste as little food as possible, so they minimise the amount
they need to throw away. For this period only, the advice to residents who do
have food waste will be to put it into the black bin.
Residents who enjoy spending time
in the garden and growing their own food are also being asked to consider home
composting as much of their garden waste as possible.
Residents who are subscribed to the
additional green bin collection scheme, and therefore pay for more than one
green bin to be collected, will see a reduced fee for their permit upon renewal
in the October.
The bulky waste collection service,
which collects large items from residents’ homes, will also be suspended during
this period.
Head of the Greater Cambridge
Shared Waste Service, Trevor Nicoll, said: “Our priority is to try and maintain
a regular waste collection service throughout the difficult months ahead and to
do what we can to support the health and wellbeing of all our staff and
residents. We’re making this change now to make sure we can focus on collecting
blue and black bins as normal for as long as we possibly can. Our bin
collection crews are trying their very best and deserve all the help we can
give them. Suspending green bin collections will take some of this burden off
them – they each walk the equivalent of a half marathon every shift. Residents
can help by trying their very best to absolutely minimise the amount of food
that they are throwing out and trying not to generate garden waste for now.
Finally, it would also be a big help to our hardworking crews if residents
whose bins don’t have much waste inside can wait until it is full before
putting it out – if they think they can manage until their next collection.”
Double bag black
bin waste if suffering symptoms
The Greater Cambridge Shared Waste
Service has also published advice on handling waste if your household is
displaying symptoms of Coronavirus.
If you’re experiencing the main
symptoms – a new, continuous cough and/or a high temperature – please be very
careful when disposing of your personal waste (including used tissues and
disposable cleaning cloths/wipes) at home. The advice for disposal of this
waste is as follows:
- It should be put in a plastic
rubbish bag and tied when full
- The plastic
bag should then be placed in a second bin bag and tied
- It should be kept separate from
other waste in suitable secure place on your property for 72 hours before
being placed in the black bin as normal
The principle behind this method is
that after 72 hours outside the body, the virus is no longer viable. This approach
will help keep bin collection crews as safe as possible.
Other household rubbish and
recycling should be treated as normal.
If you or anyone in your home is
self-isolating or is confirmed as having Coronvirus, Cambridgeshire County
Council are politely asking that you do not go to any of their Household
Recycling Centres.
Find out more about your local bin
collection services at www.cambridge.gov.uk/recycling
or www.scambs.gov.uk/recycling
Residents who experience any
waste-related difficulties during this period are asked to email waste@scambs.gov.uk or call 03450 450
063. Please note that it may take longer than usual to receive a response as
the service adapts to different working practices.