Gedling Borough Council is to stop all bulky waste and glass collections from Tuesday, 31st March, “to ensure its critical waste collection services can continue to be prioritised”.

It said reductions in staffing levels and an increase in the amount of waste being created due to people staying at home in response to the coronavirus outbreak, has meant the council has to suspend collection of bulky waste and glass collections to prioritise more critical waste services.

Staff from other areas of the council have been redeployed and trained to assist waste collection but the council said the pressure the Covid-19 crisis is placing on the council’s frontline workers means there are insufficient crews to maintain all waste services.

Any residents who have bulky waste collections already booked will be contacted and given the option to have a refund or to rearrange the collection at a later date.

Portfolio holder for the environment, Coun Peter Barnes, said: “The decision to suspend collection of bulky waste and glass has not been taken lightly, but it will have the least impact on residents and allow us to prioritise the other more critical waste services.

“For the last couple of weeks our heroic workers have worked hard to maintain all our collections, but it is clear that this is unsustainable at the present time and creates uncertainty for residents. Our staff are working tirelessly to make sure we can get the bins emptied especially now more people are at home and, naturally, creating more waste than normal so we need to factor this in.

“We are incredibly grateful for residents’ patience, support and understanding at this difficult and challenging time.”