Household recycling – Flintshire council says “all available resources” have been employed in bid to catch up

Flintshire council has been “experiencing significantly high quantities of recycling” over the past few days which has meant a number of properties not receiving a collection on their usual day.

Residents have been posting on social media stating that their cardboard, plastic waste and glass recycling has not been collected when their black bins were emptied.

During the Christmas and New Year period only food waste was picked up by council workers leaving huge amounts of plastic and cardboard to be collected.

Flintshire council deputy leader Carolyn Thomas said the move to stop recycling collections over the Christmas period was due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the availability of workers.

The council said this morning, “all available resources have been diverted to cope with the additional demand and we endeavour to return for recycling within 48 hours.”

In a further update this afternoon Steve Jones, Chief Officer Streetscene and Transportation said:

“Waste collection levels are usually high in the period directly after Christmas and the volumes have been increased this year due to the fact that most people have been celebrating Christmas and the New Year at home due to the pandemic.”

“All available resources from the Streetscene service have been employed on waste collections during this week and a statement providing details on the quantities collected since Christmas will be released next week.”

“With the exception of a few localised streets and by the end of today (Friday), all waste collections will be back to their normal frequency and collections day.’

“If anyone has still to receive a collection since the Christmas period, please contact the Streetscene Contact Centre.’

“Unfortunately today’s weather has interrupted Friday’s waste collections and some properties cannot be accessed due to the snow.

These properties have already received a post-Christmas ‘catch up’ collection last Sunday and the crews will be working again this Sunday to carry out the work that was unreachable today.

Residents in these areas do not need to contact the service and should put out their receptacles again on this Sunday (10 January) – weather permitting.”