West Norfolk food waste collections stopped by coronavirus restrictions

Food waste collections in West Norfolk are being stopped for the time being, because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Council chiefs had announced on Friday that the weekly collections would change to a fortnightly schedule from today.

But the authority is now asking residents to combine food waste with their general black bin rubbish so that collections can continue with smaller crews on each lorry.

Ian Devereux, the council's portfolio holder for environment, said he was "disappointed" by the decision and urged residents to take their own measures to reduce food waste.

He said: "Our refuse staff have been working really hard to keep up the usual collection service for our area but with some staff self-isolating, and the new guidelines on social distancing that we must follow, we have had to change the way our weekly food waste collections happen.

"We have to reduce the number of people on each crew to maintain social distancing under new guidelines. Keeping our staff safe and preserving the core services of black and green bin collections are our priorities."

"Disappointingly food waste will only be collected each fortnight in your black bin. We aren’t happy about it, but we have no choice under the exceptional and unprecedented national circumstances in which we find ourselves.

"As soon as things return to normal, rest assured the weekly food collection will be reinstated and this will be collected and processed in the usual, environmentally friendly way."

Smaller teams are working on bin collections as a result of new advice on social distancing.

Garden waste collections are being reinstated from this week, having been halted last month.