Tonight’s statement from B&NES reads:
“The Council is pleased to learn that talks between our recycling contractor Kier and the Unite union have been successful meaning that industrial action has now ended. The Council would like to thank all our residents for their patience and support while we’ve been striving to clear the backlog of recycling.
The Council understands that the Kier crews are back to making their normal scheduled recycling and food waste collections from today (Tuesday 19 January). The Council’s crews are continuing to clear any backlog and anticipate completing this by the weekend so that all recycling and food waste collections will be back to normal by the beginning of next week. Residents should put out their recycling and food waste on their normal collection days.
We’re also grateful to members of the public who have offered their services to assist with the recycling effort. We currently have 7 extra crews out on the road. We also have an additional truck to help with the outstanding food waste collections.
Key messages from the Council to assist in collecting the recycling
· We ask residents to keep putting their recycling out on their scheduled collection day and leave it out if it is not picked up. If you do not want to leave it out overnight, please take it back in after 4.30pm and put it out before 7am the following morning. We will collect your recycling and food waste as soon as we can.
· If you see your recyclables being collected in what looks like a bin lorry instead of the usual recycling lorry then please be assured this waste is still being recycled, it is just being collected by a different vehicle. The Council’s priority is to ensure that as much waste as possible is recycled – it is really important that materials which can be recycled do not go to landfill.
Please note that rubbish and garden waste/ Christmas tree collections are unaffected. For details about Christmas tree collections, please visit the garden waste collections page of our website.
We are very pleased with the response from the public who are continuing to recycle and supporting our teams on the street. We are committed to getting the recycling collected as soon as possible. The Council will be reclaiming additional costs it has incurred through its efforts directly from Kier.
If residents can follow the recycling advice below, this will help support our efforts in dealing with the recycling situation even quicker.
Recycling advice:
· During this week whilst we’re catching up, please continue to put your recycling out on your scheduled collection day and leave it out if it is not picked up – we will get to you as soon as we can.
· Please ensure that your recycling is secured so it cannot blow about. Please also ensure that you recycling containers do not cause an obstruction to others.
· It is vital that you continue to recycle your waste – please do not put recycling into your black bin bags as this could slow down your normal refuse collections too.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we strive to clear the backlog.”
I hope Keir will be charged by the Council for failing to provide contracted services as Oyster was when their system went down on 4th January. But I won’t hold my breath waiting for a private company to be challenged by the Council.