Garden waste collections in Cardiff will move from fortnightly collections to monthly collections from Saturday, August 14th, as Cardiff Council works to clear a backlog of garden waste on the city’s streets caused by a UK-wide shortage of HGV drivers and fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Council will use the rest of August to collect any outstanding garden waste that remains on the street and residents are asked to leave their garden waste out for collection until it is picked up.
The next garden waste collection will take place after the August Bank Holiday weekend, with a further collection each month through the autumn. This on-going service will be dependent on drivers being available.
A spokesperson for Cardiff Council said:
“Moving to monthly garden collections earlier will, we believe, give us the best chance of maintaining statutory waste collections – that is general waste, food, hygiene and recyclables. Ensuring the collection of these waste streams has to be our priority as we deal with the effects driver shortages and fallout from the pandemic is having on our workforce.
“Residents can help us ease the demand on services by taking, where possible, their garden waste to our recycling centres. To help with this, from Monday, August 23, Cardiff Council is:
- Increasing the annual allowance for visits to 30 per household rather than 26
- Increasing the available slots per day from 400 to 570 (up 42.5%);
- Allowing households to make a booking, and visit on the same day where slots are available
- Allowing households to visit up to 3 times per day (this is currently limited to 1) and:
- Increasing our opening times, with last available slots for drop offs at 5.30pm (this is currently 4pm).
“These new changes will only apply if you are visiting in a car.
“You will still need to make an appointment to visit the recycling centres at www.cardiff.gov.uk/recyclingcentres. You will need to bring your booking confirmation, this can be a digital version, along with proof of Cardiff residency e.g. your driving licence.
“We want you to know that the council is having to take this action to ensure we can continue to collect statutory waste streams – general waste, food, hygiene and recyclables.
“Like many local authorities across the UK, Cardiff Council is experiencing unprecedented challenges to maintain frontline services. 77% of UK councils who responded to a recent Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) survey said they were experiencing difficulties recruiting drivers.”
Councillor Michael Michael, Cabinet member for Clean Streets, Recycling and Environment, said: “We recognise the inconvenience to residents and we want you to know we will do our best to return the service, albeit reduced, as soon as we can. If residents do have a car, and are able to bring their garden waste to the recycling centres, this will help us clear the backlog. For those who are unable to drive, please leave your green waste presented on the kerbside this week and we will collect it as quickly as possible. Unlike many other councils, Cardiff collects garden waste for free. It’s a discretionary service which, unfortunately, we have to set aside at moments like this when resources are unavailable. The UK-wide driver shortages, which trade organisations blame on Brexit, is creating major issues for us, but our crews have been doing their best and we thank you for your patience and understanding.”
