There is a well-documented national shortage of qualified HGV drivers, which has been worsened by COVID-19 and EU drivers leaving the UK. This is disrupting refuse collections at many local authorities and has resulted in our Commercial Waste Service operating with a reduced fleet. Whilst we work to address this issue, in some circumstances we have taken the decision to temporarily collect commercial recycling together with general waste to prevent bins from overflowing.
Where this happens, the charge to the customer for emptying recycling bins will be at the recycling rate, not the higher general waste price. All collected waste will be sent to generate energy, not landfilled. Our commercial food, cardboard, glass, and orange/purple bag services remain unaffected and collected as normal at this time.
We hope to return to normal service as soon as the situation allows and will continue to do our best to keep the materials separated where possible.