Doncaster Council supsends all green bin collections due to 'pingdemic'

Collections will be temporarily suspended from Monday 26 July due to rising number of Covid-19 isolations among crews.

A Doncaster Council spokesman said: “Regrettably, a decision has been made to temporarily suspend green bin (garden waste) collections from Monday 26 July to focus resources on maintaining its statutory refuse and recycling collection services.

“Doncaster Council’s waste and recycling contractor - SUEZ recycling and recovery UK – has a significant number of staff who have tested positive for Covid-19 or are self-isolating due to the Government’s isolation rules.

“As there is a national shortage of HGV drivers, agency workers are not available to help out. Therefore the decision has been made to focus resources on maintaining refuse and recycling services.”

Coun Mark Houlbrook, Portfolio Holder for Sustainability and Waste, said: “The safety of staff members and the general public must take priority.

“It is balancing act to safeguard everyone’s safety against the risks of Covid-19 and making sure the bins are collected. However, as we have fewer staff members, this will mean that black and blue (recycling) bin collections will be prioritised.

“We hope that the staff members affected make a full and speedy recovery. Suez and Doncaster will be frequently monitoring the situation and will regularly update residents. We ask for the public’s patience at this time.”

Subject to the availability of crews, we will continue to collect the green bins scheduled for the remainder of this week (20-23 July), however residents should be aware that this may take several weeks and green bins should be left out for collection.

Any collections due to be made from Monday 26 July will not be collected until the service resumes. Both the council and SUEZ will be monitoring the situation closely and will re-start the green bin collections as soon as possible."

Numerous businesses have been hard-hit by the so-called ‘pingdemic’ with supermarket giant Iceland and pub operator Greene King having to close branches and pubs because of the number of staff being forced to self-isolate.