The non collection of bins on Monday

The background to the problem

On Monday the bins throughout the Borough were not collected because of the adverse weather conditions. Given the amount of snow that fell , and the conditions of many of the minor and residential roads across Wigan Borough, the Council had little choice other than to suspend services on Monday. 

I realise that it is frustrating for residents when the Council cannot collect their bins. But in truth they had little choice. A waste collection vehicles weighs around 26 tonnes. Sending them down icy roads would have been irresponsible. So, to protect the safety of the public and the staff, they had to cancel the service.

As soon as the decision was taken on Monday morning, the collection crews were immediately redeployed to other duties including clearing snow from footpaths and gritting pavements.

When will the bins that have been missed be collected again?
The current position for those whose collection has been missed is that the Council will not be returning until their next scheduled collection. For those whose black bin collection has been missed, they can leave side rubbish next to their bin at their next collection and the Council will take it away. Unfortunately, if your recyclable bin was missed, the Council will not be accepting side waste.

If residents have excess rubbish the Council  advise them to take it to their nearest household waste recycling centre.

Why will there not be an extra collection?
The decision not to return to missed collections until the next scheduled collection is in line with council policy, which was reviewed last year when the waste collection changes were introduced. Unfortunately, the Council  do not have the resources to offer an alternative collection and cannot afford to offer an extra collection.

It should be noted here that Government cuts mean that Wigan Council has £66 million less to spend between 2010 and 2015 and this year the council has to make £16 million in savings. 


I do appreciate the inconvenience that has been caused by the non collection of bins this week and would welcome comments from readers of this blog