Bin crews playing catch-up on garden waste collections after extreme heat subsides

On Monday and Tuesday the decision was taken to suspend garden waste collection so that all available crews could focus on clearing the recycling rounds as quickly as possible before temperatures peaked.

On Wednesday (July 20) the forecast predicts temperatures to begin to cool down which will facilitate a return to more normal service.

From Wednesday onwards, garden waste collections will continue as scheduled for the remainder of the district and arrangements will be put in place to get round this week to those bins missed on Monday and Tuesday.

An NKDC spokesman said: “We are asking Monday and Tuesday customers whose brown bins aren’t full to consider if they can wait for their next collection on August 1 and 2. By not putting it out for emptying this week that would be a great help.

But we appreciate that some bins will be ready for emptying. For these, please place them out for collection from 7.30am on Wednesday morning, July 20 and leave them out. We will return for them as soon as we can, before Saturday evening, July 23.”

They continued: “We anticipate it will take us a few days to return for these bins as additional vehicles and crew will be needed. We cannot be certain on what day or at what time we will reach any specific community, so please present your bin on Wednesday morning and leave it out until emptied.

“We never want to suspend collections and we are sorry for any inconvenience caused earlier in the week. But with refuse collectors having to walk up to 10 miles carrying out their duties in unprecedented temperatures, our priority had to be their safety and welfare. Our measures ensured they could complete their green-lidded rounds in slightly cooler conditions.

“We would also like to thank all those customers who put out their green-lidded bins for early collection and who offered cool drinks and ice lollies to their collection crew. It was much appreciated and made an enormous difference to them.”