North Kesteven households warned as waste collection crews to start work earlier

North Kesteven District Council’s bin lorry crews will be starting their working day an hour earlier than currently, and this revised start time of 6.30am will mean that collection crews will arrive earlier in streets across the district.

Residents are therefore asked to present their bins in good time, by 6.30am on the relevant collection day, to help ensure they are available for crews to collect.

The council says the change is to protect the welfare of collection crews.

The period of extreme high temperatures in summer 2022 required a sudden switch to an earlier start for collections so that the council’s crews could beat the peak heat of the day. It meant that urgent communications were needed to ask residents to present their bins earlier, and residents duly responded.

The revised 6.30am start time will help the service be even better prepared this year – reducing the need for last-minute disruption in instances such as severe weather.

North Kesteven District Council Assistant Director of Environment and Public Protection David Steels said: “Our collection crews will be starting their working day an hour earlier and leaving the depot at 6.30am, and so from Tuesday May 2 collections shall be earlier than at present. To be sure of not missing a collection, we are recommending your bins are presented by 6.30am on your collection day.

“This will help us avoid last-minute changes to your collection times, for example in response to severe weather, and the last-minute disruption we know this causes for our residents when this happens. It will enable consistency too for our crews as they work throughout the year.”

The council will be spreading the message in advance across a range of formats.

David Steels encouraged people to make neighbours, friends and family aware of changes to bin collection times, in case they have not heard.

There are no other changes to collections at this time, besides the collections which will be brought forward around the upcoming May 1 and May 29 Bank Holidays.

Customers who would normally present their black general waste bins (and any garden waste bins for those subscribed) on these two Bank Holiday Mondays will need to put them out for collection instead on the Saturday before (Saturday April 29 and Saturday May 27, respectively). For May 8, the Bank Holiday for the coronation of King Charles III, there is no change expected to this collection day. Ensure bins are out by 6.30am.