Wirral Council is anticipating further disruption to bin collections this week following more extreme weather.
Since the cold weather started, gritters have been out on primary and secondary transport routes, which are prioritised by all local authorities to make the roads safer for motorists. However, rain and snowfall has frozen, making many residential streets across the borough too icy for the wagons.
Despite being unable to collect in most streets today (Monday), Biffa crews managed to clear over 10,000 missed collections this weekend and are reviewing the situation hourly.
Councillor Lesley Rennie, Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Transport explained:
"We have worked hard to grit Wirral's busiest roads but, due to the ice and snow over the weekend, many pavements and footways are too slippery for residents and bin crews. Anyone who has put their bin out, should leave it where it is and, if we can collect, we will. In the meantime, we have also arranged for people on Community Payback to grit pavements in and around shopping areas and our car parks."
"We will catch up as soon as possible and will of course also accept additional side waste providing it is bagged properly. I would like to thank residents for their understanding. We are doing all we can under extremely challenging circumstances, which are unfortunately outside of our control.
"We will make sure that people are kept informed and regular updates will be available on the Council’s website: www.wirral.gov.uk and Twitter www.twitter.com/WirralCouncil."
When they are unable to undertake household waste collections, Biffa crews are working alongside Wirral Community Payback Service and the Council’s Parks & Gardens team to grit the pavements and main shoppers’ car parks. The Council is also restocking grit bins, which have been well used by residents trying to improve conditions outside their homes.
Latest information:
Green and grey bin collections
BIFFA were out at the weekend and managed to catch up on over 10,000 missed collections.
They will continue to attempt all missed and scheduled collections, however, conditions on residential streets, are currently too treacherous for the large and heavy vehicles, so it is likely that collections will primarily take place along the borough’s busiest roads. Biffa will be reviewing the situation on an hourly basis.
There is a plan in place to clear any backlog caused by the ice and this will be implemented as soon as it is safe to do so. Green bins will take priority over grey recycling bins during any catch up.
Brown bin collections
Any brown garden waste bins that were missed between 29/11/10 and Friday 3/12/10 should be taken back onto your property. These collections have not been rescheduled to enable Biffa to catch up on household waste collections.
All brown bin collections scheduled for this week (6/12/10 to 10/12/10) have also been cancelled for the same reason.
If you are able to do so safely, please take your garden waste to the household waste recycling centres. Alternatively, please store it until your next scheduled collection.
http://www.wirral.gov.uk/news/06-12-2010/update-bin-collections