WASTE AND RECYCLING COLLECTIONS RESUME

Waste and recycling collections across Thanet have returned to normal today (Monday 11 January), following the two-day suspension last week (Thursday 7 and Friday 8 January) due to the adverse weather.

Waste and recycling crews will be collecting from all homes due to have a collection on a Monday and, where time allows, will also be revisiting those homes which missed collections last week. On Thursday and Friday of this week (14 and 15 January), the council will be collecting non-recyclable household rubbish. Any additional waste, outside of wheeled bins, will be collected on those two days only. For those on the wheeled bin scheme, the council will only be collecting black bins and household rubbish and not recycling. Any recycling that is put out for collection on these two days will be taken to landfill. Blue-lidded bins will not be emptied.

Although the refuse trucks, which can hold up to 12 tonnes of waste, were unable to go out for two days last week, the council did send out much smaller trucks, which can hold between 1.5 and 2.5 tonnes of waste, to clear the backlog. They were able to collect up to 2,000 black sacks, dealing with the majority of homes not on wheeled bin rounds who missed their collections last week.

Cllr. Shirley Tomlinson, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, said: "We would like to take this opportunity to thank our residents for their understanding during this difficult time, which we could not have foreseen. Our crews will be working hard this week to catch up with the backlog. Along with many other councils across Kent, we had no choice but to suspend our waste services. It wasn't a choice we took easily, but it was the right one, given the conditions we were faced with and the possibility of accidents with our trucks. Weather permitting, by the end of this week, we are aiming to be back up to date with our waste collections and we made a good start on that last week, with the majority of the black sacks collected by our teams. This week we'll be concentrating on getting all the waste collections back on track for those with wheeled bins."

For homes with wheeled bins due a collection either today, Tuesday or Wednesday, it's business as usual, with either their rubbish or recycling due to be collected, depending on the round they are on. To check which bin is due for collection, you should refer to either your wheeled bin collection calendar or check your collection details online on the council's website at http://www.thanet.gov.uk/databases/refuse/ All collections are weather permitting.