Waste and Street Cleansing Industrial Action Update – Tuesday 14th June at 4pm

Industrial action ends - see update from WDC

We are pleased to announce that our waste contractor, Biffa, has informed us this afternoon it has reached a negotiated settlement with the GMB union and as a result the industrial action has been brought to an end.

Striking staff will be returning to work tomorrow and we will be working with Biffa to reinstate full collection services and recover outstanding waste as quickly as possible.  

We would like to thank our all of our residents for their patience and understanding during this difficult time.  

Please continue to check our website for service updates while Biffa works to catch up on collections.

Wednesday 15^th June 

While the bin lorries and crews are being reintegrated to their regular depots, the following services will be operating in full or in part: 

• Rubbish collection rounds in the south of the District are due to operate in Lower Willingdon, Polegate, Part of Hailsham, Ripe, Chalvington, Laughton, Wannock, Selmeston and Golden Cross. Also properties collected using a narrow access vehicle due a rubbish collection this week will be emptied, although this may occur on the scheduled day or a day later. Please put your rubbish bin out if you are due a collection that day.
• All scheduled rubbish collection rounds in the north of the District are operating.
• If your road is not emptied please leave it in place as efforts are being made to catch up on missed rubbish collections. 
• Other services, including clinical waste and sharps box collections, bulky waste collections, bin deliveries and street litter bin and dog waste bin emptying, are operating as normal

Thursday 16^th June 

All scheduled rubbish recycling and garden waste collections will be resuming 

• If you are due a collection of rubbish, recycling or garden waste on Thursday 16^th June please place your bin out for collection as normal.  
• If you are unsure which bin you are due to have collected or on what dates your collections are, please use the bin day search on our website at www.wealden.gov.uk  Enter your postcode and select your address to see your bin collection days or download a collection calendar.
• While the crews will be working hard to complete each collection round every day, to begin with it may be they are unable to finish some rounds.  Please be assured that if your road is not collected on the scheduled day, they will be returning to finish before they move onto the next day’s work.  For this reason, if your road is not emptied please leave the bin out ready for collection.

• Please note that on your first scheduled collection the amount of rubbish, recycling or garden waste that can be removed by the crews is limited so they may not be able to remove some or all the extra waste if bags are placed next to the bin.  At this time Biffa are working to ensure as many households as possible receive at least a collection of the contents of the bins however, as the catch up work progresses reasonable amounts of excess waste will be collected.
• Other services, including clinical waste and sharps box collections, bulky waste collections, bin deliveries and street litter bin and dog waste bin emptying, are operating as normal