Changing the Household Waste Collection Rounds to Help Improve Operational Resilience and Service to Residents

From Monday 7 February 2022 we will be changing household waste collection days for many of our residents.

Like most councils in the UK, we have been managing a number of significant challenges to our frontline waste service provision over the past two years, including the impacts of Covid-19 on contractor staff availability and the ongoing nationwide HGV driver shortages. Following the temporary suspension of the food and garden waste service between 28 December 2021 and 8 January 2022, we are now making a longer-term change to further enhance the efficiency and resilience of our collection rounds. Under the proposed change, our contractor’s vehicle and personnel resources can be used more efficiently to complete collections compared to the current approach where crews are comparatively spread more thinly across the district on each collection day. This will ensure that we can maintain a good quality of service for all residents in the face of ongoing and future challenges.

Please note that apart from the collection day revision, no other changes are being proposed at this time. The change will not affect the existing frequency of collections or how we collect waste from households. Collections will continue to take place on the same new collection day each week from 7 February 2022, with the exception of those involving a small number of communal properties that receive a (bin store) collection where the pickup day may differ between black bin and recycling.

Planned Resident Communications

An extensive communications plan is being implemented to ensure that residents are suitably informed and reassured ahead of this change. From Monday 24 January, all households will begin receiving information about their new collection day in the post. For most households, this will be in the form of a postcard with relevant information including a calendar showing collection dates up until the end of July 2022. We will also issue a press release to local press and use social media channels to amplify the key messages.

For your information, I have attached copies of the following:

• Poster – which can be printed and displayed on a public notice board if you wish (this is optional)
• Social media tile- which can be placed on social media or emails (this is optional)

Temporary Solutions to Help Residents to Adjust to This Change

Residents who will have an extended wait between their last recycling, rubbish and garden waste collection and their first collection on the new collection day will receive an additional collection in order to manage excess rubbish and recycling. Households who will receive this one-off collection will be notified separately via a letter or can check www.westberks.gov.uk/binday from 25 January 2022. All garden waste subscribers can leave out three extra open-topped bags of garden waste on collections between 7 and 18 February 2022.

Additional Information and FAQs

We have been liaising with internal partners including Customer Services to ensure that sufficient internal personnel are available to assist residents who may have queries related to this re-route. A detailed frequently asked questions (FAQs) document can be on our website