Gardeners across the county will have their green waste collected again from the start of next month - after West Suffolk announced it would be the latest to restart brown bin collections on June 1.
Ipswich Council, Babergh, and Mid Suffolk all restart their garden waste collections next week and East Suffolk Council announced earlier this week that it is to restart collections during the week beginning May 25.
Now West Suffolk has announced it will restart garden waste collections on June 1 – and it is offering users of the service an extra two months of service next spring, to make up for the cancellation since the end of March.
Their annual subscription will run until the end of May 2021, rather than the end of March.
The service was paused due to a sudden reduction in staff following the stay at home guidance, which saw more than 40 waste and street services’ staff either having to shield themselves as vulnerable or someone in their home.
However the council is planning to reinstate the service, although there will be some changes and there may be a change to some collection days. Customers will be contacted directly with details of these.
More on the coronavirus crisis
John Griffiths, leader of West Suffolk Council, said: “The pandemic has significantly reduced our own staff and we have had to prioritise services such as the blue and black bin collections while also redeploying over 60 staff to deliver extra support for the vulnerable and our businesses.
“I would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding and our communities who have shown their appreciation with pictures, gifts and messages of support for our staff, including our bin crews. This has really helped make a very challenging job much easier.”
The West Suffolk Garden Collection Waste Service collects around 12,000 tonnes of garden waste a year, which is composted and returned to the land as soil improver. Customers have been assured that they will not be out of pocket, with the period of the suspension, however long that is, being added to the current year.
The West Suffolk Garden Waste Collection Service, which last year had 30,000 customers, was suspended on March 30.
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