All recycling collections due to take place Tuesday, 8 June, have been rescheduled to Saturday 12 June. The main areas affected are as follows: Burnham-on-Sea, Brean, Berrow, Over Stowey, Enmore, Edithmead, Spaxton, Broomfield, Burrowbridge, Cannington, Wembdon, Merridge, Aisholt, Lower Aisholt, Courtway, Highbridge and Fiddington.
Anyone due a recycling collection tomorrow should present it for collection on Saturday instead.
Rubbish and garden waste collections scheduled for Tuesday will take place as planned.
We will be sharing this information through the media and social media, but your support in getting the message out would be welcomed. Members of the public do not need to report a missed recycling collection, as their scheduled collection (and any special details like assisted collections) will be transferred to Saturday. We aim to have additional crews out on Saturday as we recognise that there may be even more recycling presented than normal.
This unavoidable disruption is essential to allow collections to recover after a period of severe staff shortages and heavy pressure. Somerset Waste Partnership sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused. The current pressures are primarily down to an ongoing nationwide shortage of HGV drivers, a situation made worse by Covid (which has meant a backlog of HGV driving tests) and Brexit which has seen some drivers move back to EU countries. Locally there is also a more general shortage of agency staff which, combined with recent heavy holiday traffic and continued heavy loads, has seen an increased in missed collections in various parts of the county in recent weeks.
Please be assured that SWP is challenging its contractor SUEZ to continue to improve service quality and redouble efforts recruit, retain and upskill staff as drivers, in what we know to be a very difficult marketplace.
Extra crews are being brought in and the rescheduling of Tuesday’s Sedgemoor recycling collections will allow the reallocation of crews and vehicles to clear a backlog of collections.
We will continue to monitor the situation closely and work hard with our contractor to minimise any further disruption.
Mickey Green
Managing Director
Somerset Waste Partnership