Garden waste will start being collected again from thousands of homes in Keswick and across the North Lakes as from Monday 11th May, it was announced today.
The fortnightly house-to-house service had been suspended by Allerdale Borough Council since 23rd March when lockdown measures were introduced by the Government.
Its return in full and on normal days will be welcomed by local residents with stockpiles of garden rubbish built up during lockdown and also by Cumbria’s firefighters who had warned of the dangers of people lighting bonfires at home to burn it off during the recent warm, dry weather.
With Cumbria County Council’s waste recycling centres or tips closed, there has been nowhere for people to dispose of their garden waste for what will be a seven-week period while stuck at home.
The suspension was to help safeguard the borough council’s waste crews and protect its other collections, such as domestic waste, during the coronavirus outbreak. It had originally been due to be reviewed in June but Allerdale says it has been able to put the necessary measures in place to resume collections earlier than expected.
Deputy leader Cllr Mike Johnson said “The crews from Allerdale Waste Services have been working exceptionally hard over the last few weeks to keep collections going in challenging circumstances. I want to thank them for carrying out their work with the utmost professionalism and maintaining social distancing as much as possible.
“I also want to thank members of the public for playing their part by showing so much support to our crews as they carried on working for our communities. We understand that some inconvenience may have been caused by the suspension, so we thank everyone in Allerdale for bearing with us while these measures were in place.”
Keswick Town Council, led by mayor Cllr David Burn and with support from Cllr Duncan Miller, had lobbied the Workington-based authority to resume garden waste collections as soon as possible. Residents are being asked to put out only one garden waste bin and not to fill it with soil to avoid breaching weight restrictions. The official advise is also to clean bin handles before and after collection and wash hands after touching a bin to help reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus.
Anyone with excess green waste is asked to store it at home until their next collection or to consider home composting. Discounted compost bins can be bought through the county council at http://www.recycleforcumbria.org/inthegarden/default.asp
To check what day your bin is collected, go to https://www.allerdale.gov.uk/en/bincollections/
