Garden waste collections to resume in Central Bedfordshire

Central Bedfordshire Council is planning to restart collections of garden waste from Monday, April 27.

Staffing levels have stabilised which will allow the council to restart the collections as normal, on the usual day.

Cllr Ian Dalgarno, Central Bedfordshire Council’s Executive Member for Community Services, said: “This is very welcome news. The crews from our contractor FCC Environment have worked extremely hard throughout the lockdown to maintain essential waste collection and recycling collection.

“I am glad that residents have been appreciative of their efforts.

"What we can’t do is tackle any backlog instantly. We still don’t have the manpower to do that. So, we do ask residents to keep on with home composting either with a heap or a subsidised compost bin.

“By doing so you will help us reduce the volume we need to collect and enable the workload is manageable with our contractor’s resources.”

The council is also reminding residents of the government advice on household waste, to protect workers and combat the spread of infection.

Anyone who feels ill at home (whether diagnosed with COVID-19 or not) should place all their waste in the general rubbish bin, and should double-bag it, making sure the bags are securely tied. They should then wait at least 72 hours before placing it out for collection.

On government advice the council's four Household Waste Recycling Centres in Ampthill, Biggleswade, Leighton Buzzard and Thorn near Dunstable currently remain closed to the public.