Covid: Coventry garden waste collections suspended as staff isolate

The suspension of garden waste bins is due to a rising number of bin staff being told to self-isolate

Garden rubbish collections are being suspended for a fortnight in Coventry because an increasing number of staff have been told to self-isolate.

The city council said the rise was due to crews having contact with a person who tested positive for Covid-19 outside of work.

They added there is no outbreak of coronavirus within their bin service.

Household rubbish and recycling waste will be collected as normal during the garden waste suspension.

The suspension began on Wednesday and will last until the end of next week.

Andrew Walster, from the city council, said a "significant" number of bin staff had been told by NHS Test and Trace to self-isolate.

"Given the levels of rising Covid-19 infections in the country and city, the levels of employees being told to self-isolate could even increase over the next two weeks," he added.

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Refuse collections in Coventry have been in the spotlight after months of missed bin collections, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said earlier this month.

A report to the authority's cabinet in July said it had overspent on waste and street services by £3.5m in the last financial year, mainly due to the pandemic.

The extra spend included an extra £1.2m on extra staff to cover for sickness due to Covid-19 and for additional vehicles to allow for social distancing.