Council Moves to Prioritise Domestic Waste Collections

South Tyneside Council will prioritise domestic waste collections over the summer period.

The Council will immediately move to prioritise grey household waste bins and additional crews will be working six days a week in a bid to get waste collections back on track.

The Council will be collecting GREY bins only with residents asked to present their bin EVERY DAY.

The Council is also looking to put in place a number of sites across South Tyneside where people can bring recyclable materials. These sites will be for recycling only and will complement the six existing recycling sites already in place in the borough, as well as the Recycling Village at Middlefields. These additional site locations are being finalised and details will be available on the website shortly.

A spokesperson for South Tyneside Council said: "Its all hands on deck to clear the backlog.

"The Council signed the Memorandum of Understanding in a bid to provide a period of stability, end action short of strike and get the service back on track. The workforce has not held up their side of the agreement and waste collections have continued to be disrupted.

"This cannot go on. We have heard for some time the frustrations of our residents. We do listen and we know this cannot be tolerated any longer. We have tried to engage the workforce to address any concerns. We know there are improvements to make within the service and we have wanted to push on and do the right thing for our staff, but our residents and the communities we serve must come first.

"We need to do everything we can to get crews back to normal duties.

"We want to thank the public once again for their tolerance of the situation and we hope this no-nonsense approach will address the backlog built up as a result of current working practices and get collections back to normal."

The council is prioritising the collection of grey household waste bins at this time due to the greater public health risk it presents.

All available Council resources will be focused on clearing the backlog of general household waste and the additional recycling sites will be in place for dry recyclable materials.

Residents can also dispose of waste at the Recycling Village at Middlefields Industrial Estate which has 650 slots available every day. To book a slot at the Recycling Village visit www.southtyneside.gov.uk/recyclingvillage Residents are asked to cancel their booking if not needed to free them up for someone else.

Green waste collections will continue as normal.

Residents with waste related queries are encouraged to visit the Council's website at www.southtyneside.gov.uk in the first instance, where they will find further information including a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).