Garden waste collections temporarily suspended in North Devon

An ongoing driver shortage is being blamed for the decision

Author: Andrew KayPublished 2nd Sep 2022
Last updated 2nd Sep 2022

Garden waste collections in a part of Devon are being suspended for two weeks, so crews can catch up.

North Devon Council say the change - from Monday - is due to a lack of drivers, which mean they're behind.

They say that double the normal waste will be collected when the service restarts in mid September.

Lead Member for Environment at North Devon Council, Councillor Netti Pearson said: "We have taken the difficult decision to cancel the garden collection service so we can give priority to our other collections.

"The summer holidays are always extremely busy from a recycling point of view, but this has been compounded by the national driver shortage.

"Over the past few weeks, we have been trying to manage the situation with managers and supervisors stepping in to assist the crews, but the problems are still persisting and it is becoming increasingly difficult to catch up.

"This is why we have taken the decision to suspend everyone’s next garden collection.

"We'd like to thank our residents for their continued patience. We know it has been difficult, but please bear with us."

The garden waste service will be back up and running again from Monday 19 September.

Residents are being reassured that double the amount of garden waste will be collected on their next collection when the rounds re-commence."

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.