Green waste collections in Buckinghamshire to restart from Monday 11th May 2020

Buckinghamshire Council has announced that green waste collections are restart from Monday 11th May 2020.

Additionally, the Household Recycling Centres (HRC’s) are ready to open again once the Government gives approval to do so.

The announcement was made at a Cabinet meeting of Buckinghamshire Council held on Thursday 30th April 2020 by Bill Chapple OBE, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change.

Both the green waste collections and HRC’s were closed earlier in the coronavirus outbreak following guidance from the government, as well as staff shortages due to sickness and those needing to self-isolate.

The days on which the garden waste bins are collected will stay the same, however the Council is advising residents to check the relevant Buckinghamshire Council Area website just to make sure nothing has changed.

The times during the day on which collections are made may however change, so residents are reminded to make sure that bins are put out ready for collection by 6.30am on the collection day.

In addition, no subscribers will be out of pocket while green waste collections have been suspended as contract extensions or reduced priced renewals are being introduced. The Council’s bulky waste collection service will also be reinstated across Buckinghamshire.

Bill Chapple said: ‘Coronavirus has had a massive impact on all our waste services but waste teams from across the county have worked tremendously hard to prioritise collections and keep waste and recycling bin collections going. However, we’re now fighting back and it’s my intention to get services operating somewhere close to normality wherever I can, subject to current conditions continuing.

Bringing back green waste collections will really help residents tend to their gardens during the lockdown. I know collection crews will be working hard particularly on the initial rounds, so could I ask residents to be considerate and avoid over-filling bins or putting additional garden waste out alongside.

To allow residents to dispose of other essential rubbish that might be harmful to store, we’ve also been working behind the scenes to prepare five of our most suitable household waste sites for reopening. These sites are at Amersham, Aston Clinton, Beaconsfield, Buckingham and High Heavens in High Wycombe and are best able to deal with queuing vehicles.

We’re now just waiting for the Government’s final authorisation to open and this is expected within the next couple of weeks.

That said, sites will look and operate differently to comply with strict social distancing requirements. We’ll be adopting a ‘supermarket style’ of operation with strict controls on the number of people entering the site at any one time and marked off areas to maintain two metre gaps.

As soon as we get the green light, we’ll publish more detailed guidance on when these sites will reopen and how they will operate so residents can be absolutely clear on what they need to do.

It’s been a concerted effort from the whole waste team to find the best ways to reintroduce services given the extraordinary times we’re in and I really hope it will provide some much-needed help for local residents going forward.‘

Further information on waste collections and Household Recycling Centres in Buckinghamshire can be found on the Buckinghamshire Council website at www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

*Source of article : Press release from Buckinghamshire Council.