Derbyshire Dales council to restart food waste collection service next week as bin pressures ease

Derbyshire Dales District Council is to restart its collection service for food waste next week, in a sign that its long-running bin troubles may be starting to ease up.
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The council is one of only a small number of authorities in the region to provide a dedicated food collection service but this was suspended at the end of July with council contractor Serco caught out by the national shortage of HGV drivers, causing chaos for waste and recycling schedules.

But separate weekly collections of food waste will now restart in the district from Monday, November 29.

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A council spokesperson said: “We want to extend our thanks to residents for their patience and understanding during what we acknowledge has been an extremely testing time for many.”

Chop, chop. Get those scraps ready. (Photo by ERIC PIERMONT/AFP via Getty Images)Chop, chop. Get those scraps ready. (Photo by ERIC PIERMONT/AFP via Getty Images)
Chop, chop. Get those scraps ready. (Photo by ERIC PIERMONT/AFP via Getty Images)

They added: “We will closely monitor with our contractor, Serco, the restoration of food waste collections.

“While Serco have successfully attracted new drivers in recent times and collections have stabilised across the district, we are conscious – with Covid a continuing factor – that any future unplanned staff absences could once again impact the waste and recycling service.”

The council, which has attracted much criticism over its handling of the situation, says it is also keeping its promise to residents on a three month suspension of collecting excess recycling – also known as side waste – which began on August 30, and will return from Monday too.

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The spokesperson added: “We are appealing though to residents to please be mindful that putting out lots of excess at the first opportunity in addition to the contents of their recycling bin could lead to trucks filling up more quickly than usual and rounds not being completed.

Residents should please therefore try to limit excess for the time being and see our advice on how to present excess recycling so it is easily identifiable.”

For more information on appropriate items for side waste collections, see www.derbyshiredales.gov.uk/excessrecycling.

An review is currently under way to establish any fault in the council’s contracting process in light of the months-long crisis and is expected to report back early in the New Year.

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