NFDC Garden waste collection suspended from 19th July as Council face staff shortages
Garden waste collection suspended as council face staff shortages
New Forest District Council (NFDC) will suspend their garden waste collection service from next week (Monday 19 July) for a minimum of 4 weeks amid severe staff shortages.
NFDC has experienced staff shortages across the whole waste and recycling service recently and despite some vacancies being filled, there is now not enough staff to carry out all the services provided.
On Wednesday (14 July) NFDC took the decision to suspend their garden waste collection service to allow them to continue collecting household waste and recycling from the 80,000 homes in the district. Staff from the garden waste service will be redeployed to black and clear sack collections.
The suspension is likely to be for a minimum of four weeks, and will be kept under review, reinstating as soon as possible.
Cllr Steve Davies, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Coastal Services at NFDC, said “It is of course regrettable we are faced with this situation to suspend the garden waste service, but core services of residual waste and recycling must take priority.
“These staff shortages are due to a number of factors, including self-isolation and the national HGV driver shortage that has received widespread national press coverage, affecting services across the country. Officers are doing all they can to solve this and are working with agencies, and advertising for additional staff.
“I am sorry to any of our residents who use the garden waste collection service who may be inconvenienced by this and I ask for their understanding while we do all we can to enable the service to start again.”
Updates will be added to NFDC’s website https://www.newforest.gov.uk/gardenwaste and emails will be sent to people who subscribe to NFDC’s residents emails https://www.newforest.gov.uk/emails
Garden waste can instead be composted at home or taken to one of Hampshire County Council’s tips by booking a slot at https://www.hants.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling/recyclingcentres/book-appointment
ENDS
Garden waste is a charged for service. Customers are being contacted this week. The garden waste collection year will be rolled forward so customers receive the same number of collections. For example, if we suspend for 4 weeks, instead of the collection period finishing in March 2022, it would continue until the end of April 2022
Glass collections will continue.