Waste collection policy

The Borough Council will make all reasonable attempts to collect waste and recycling on the designated day of collection, however there may be events outside of the Councils direct control which may affect this. Dependant on the reason for bins not being collected will determine how the Councils responds:

Inclement or severe weather and operational Issues

In the event of weather conditions or operational issues such as vehicle breakdown which delays or suspends for longer than the designated collection day, the Council will publicise this through social media and on its website highlighting those areas affected by this. In some instances, such as icy conditions it may be localised areas which are affected rather than entire rounds and the safety of crews and the public must be paramount. In such conditions refuse collection vehicle drivers will carry out a on-site risk assessments and will be down to their discretion whether it is possible to access a road safely and whether frozen pavements are too hazardous for collections and in conjunction with supervisors may temporarily delay or suspend collection from specific roads until conditions improve. If significant disruption occurs, the Council's website will be updated with information on access and which services are being prioritised. Priority will normally be given to the residual waste service.

The Council will in the first instance look to look to catch up on those properties missed through collecting them on the subsequent following days and where necessary operating on the following Saturday. Guidance to residents will be provided as part of its media release and website information. During this period residents may leave containers presented out to facilitate emptying. Where severe weather conditions suspend collections for an extended period of time the Council may not be feasibly able to "catch-up" on collections. In such cases service will be suspended until the next scheduled collection. Where this occurs the Borough Council will provide guidance through its media release and on its website as to how it will support residents with any additional waste which has been accumulated as a result of the missed collection. If significant disruption does occur and services do need to be suspended priority will normally be given to operating the residual waste service .

Access issues

On occasions crews may find they cannot gain access to certain areas and streets to facilitate collection. This may be due to:

• poorly parked cars
• delivery vehicles
• building works 
• road works or closures
• significant traffic buildup
• overgrowing shrubs or trees

The collection crew will try at least twice on the collection day to access a road to facilitate collection of rubbish. If they still cannot gain access, then service may have to be deferred to a later date, but this will be down to the discretion of the Council on the basis of the access issue. Where there are ongoing or longer term issues with access then the Council may ask residents to present waste at a different collection point . In the event of access repeatedly being blocked the Council due to the same issue such as a poorly parked vehicle or overgrown trees the Council will make reasonable attempts to ascertain ownership of the obstruction and inform them of the issues being caused. The Council holds no responsibility should the responsible party for the obstruction not take remedial action and the problem persists which as a consequence result in the Council having to either suspend collection service to the affected area or move the collection point to an accessible point.

Missed by crew

There may be occasions where a container is missed for collection due to crew error. Containers should not be reported as being missed until the next working day after collection was due to occur. To enable collection of a missed container it should be reported to the Council within 2 working days of it being missed. Containers reported missed after this time will not be collected until the next scheduled collection. The Council will return to collect genuine reported missed containers within 2 working days of receipt of the missed collection being logged.

A missed collection will not be classed as genuine if:

• the container was not presented for collection before the crew arrived to empty it. All containers should be placed out for collection by 6:30am on the day of collection
• the container was not put out due to a change of collection day and the resident was not aware
• if the container was not at the correct collection point
• in the case of assisted collections, the crew could not access the container due to locked gates, bins being secured to property or hazards on the property which hinder collection
• the container was refused due to being contaminated
• the container was overweight and could not be safely managed and emptied
• the lid of the bin could not be closed due to being overfilled
• where access issues have prevented the crew from accessing an area to enable emptying

In such cases as the above the Council will not return to empty/remove the container until the next scheduled collection. It will be down to the householder to deal with any additional waste as a result of the non-collection or arrange an additional empty which would be chargeable.