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:

1. It should be put in a plastic rubbish bag and tied when full
2. The plastic bag should then be placed in a second bin bag and tied
3. 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.

https://mailchi.mp/f17d085058e5/open-for-business-november-2019

Greater Cambridge Local Plan: The First Conversation

Ever walked past a building and wondered how it got planning permission? Worried about climate change and how we are going to adapt? Trying to buy a house and finding it really difficult?

The Council’s Local Plan is the document that shapes our area’s future and answers these big questions. It covers the key themes of climate change, biodiversity and green spaces, wellbeing and social inclusion, and great places. It will affect what kind of new homes get built and where, where businesses can grow and how buildings, streets and spaces should be designed. As a result, the Local Plan affects all of us – yet most people have never even heard of it.

But things are changing and we want you to be a part of it.

For the first time ever, Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council are preparing a joint Local Plan for the Greater Cambridge area: and this time we want to do better than ever before at working with you all to make it happen.

We will be starting a big conversation with the community, with many different ways to get involved, online and offline, on Monday 13 January. Please look out for more information nearer the time, and get in touch at www.greatercambridgeplanning.org

Help shape our future together!

From the District Council:

Thank you for recycling right

Most of us recycle right but there still some items that cause issues when taken to Materials Recycling Facility to be segregated for further recycling.

It costs Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Service £10,000 every month to remove and dispose incorrect items from recycling collected from blue bins. 

When the wrong items are put in the recycling, this reduces its quality and, if there are a lot of incorrect items, can cause large quantities of materials to be rejected and not recycled. This means your Council Tax money is wasted, instead of being spent on improving local services.

These items do not belong in your blue recycling bin:

• nappies, wet wipes, sanitary towels – place in black bin
• tissues and kitchen roll – can be put in green bin for composting
• black bags – place in black bin
• clothes, textiles, shoes – donate, swap, place in a textile / shoe bank, Household Recycling Centre
• food and liquid remains – remove any food and rinse containers, and empty all liquids from bottles. Squash and replace caps before recycling.

More information on what can and can’t be recycled can be found in the south Cambs magazine or on the website at: www.scambs.gov.uk/bins

From the District Council

Let’s S.C.R.A.P. Fly-tipping

Fly-tipping is the illegal disposal of waste. It can be anything from a bag of waste to a truckload. We all have seen abandoned items in the countryside, villages and towns. But leaving items by HRCs, charity shops or by bins are all fly-tipping too.

Around two thirds of fly-tips come from households, so it is crucially important that you understand your Duty of Care to avoid £400 fixed penalty notice or an unlimited fine.

Together with other partners in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Waste Partnership (RECAP) we have launched the S.C.R.A.P Fly-tipping campaign to help residents to understand their responsibilities. Follow the S.C.R.A.P. code below to make the right choices when asking someone to remove your waste.

To help us deal with fly-tipping incidents efficiently, please report them to us.

Here is how:

Online: www.scambs.gov.uk/environment/envirocrime/

By phone: 03450 450 063

If you witness fly-tipping, call 999 to report crime in action. Please do not put yourself in harm way.

When reporting fly-tipping, please note as many details as possible

–              the exact location

–              the size of the fly-tip

–              the type of waste dumped

–              the date and time you spotted or witnessed the fly-tip

–              photos of the fly-tip and fly-tippers if you have witnessed it

–              the vehicle registration number and details

–              the description of people involved

–              the direction they were travelling

Bank holiday bin collection changes

Here is advance notice from our waste team of the Easter and May Day 2019 bin collections and how they will be altered due to bank holidays.

Usual day	Revised day
Good Friday 19 April	Tue 23 April
Easter Monday 22 April	Wed 24 April
Tue 23 April	Thu 25 April
Wed 24 April	Fri 26 April
Thu 25 April	Sat 27 April
Fri 26 April	Mon 29 April
Mon 29 April	Tue 30 April
Tue 30 April	Wed 1 May
Wed 1 May	Thu 2 May
Thu 2 May	Fri 3 May
Fri 3 May	Sat 4 May
Mon 6 May	Tue 7 May
Tue 7 May	Wed 8 May
Wed 8 May	Thu 9 May
Thu 9 May	Fri 10 May
Fri 10 May	Sat 11 May
Mon 13 May	Back to normal

Changes to bin collections this Christmas and New Year

South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge residents are being asked to double-check their bin collection dates during the Christmas and New Year period – and recycle as much as possible during the festivities.

Many regular collection days will be changing due to the bank holidays. The collection for Christmas Day, Tuesday 25 December, has been brought forward to Saturday 22 December.

 

Date of usual collection	Revised collection date
Monday 24 December	No change
Tuesday 25 December	Saturday 22 December
Wednesday 26 December	Thursday 27 December
Thursday 27 December	Friday 28 December
Friday 28 December	Saturday 29 December
Monday 31 December	No change
Tuesday 1 January	Wednesday 2 January
Wednesday 2 January	Thursday 3 January
Thursday 3 January	Friday 4 January
Friday 4 January	Saturday 5 January
Monday 7 January	Back to normal collections

Collections return to their regularly scheduled days from Monday 7 January.

NOTICE FROM SOUTH CAMRIDGESHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL

Good afternoon

 The MET Office has issued a severe weather warning for possible snow this evening and for the next two days.

 Some information has been posted on our website here to let people know in advance that blue and black bins will be prioritised over green if the crews are not able to complete all the rounds.

 Additionally, more information will be posted on www.scambs.gov.uk/bin-collection-service-announcements when the team are aware how the weather is impacting them.

 We would be grateful if you could share these links with your colleagues and on your social media groups.

 

 

Ways to contact us

Changes to bin collections this Christmas and New Year