Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils are poised to re-launch their garden waste collections this month, after stopping them to protect essential collections during COVID-19.

Monday 11 May will see the green button pressed on garden waste collections across the Babergh and Mid Suffolk districts, after they were stopped to allow crews to prioritise essential waste streams; general rubbish, clinical waste and recycling during the coronavirus outbreak.

This difficult but crucial decision was essential to allow recycling and rubbish to be collected, whilst equally ensuring the safety of waste crews, staff and residents.

First collection for Coddenham, will be the 21st May.

Despite the financial impact of the virus on the councils, no residents will be out of pocket from the stoppage.

No new invoices have been issued since the collections were forced to stop and subscriptions will be amended to reflect the missed collections.

To prioritise collections of missed garden waste bins, the councils are currently not accepting new subscriptions until further notice.

Cllr Elisabeth Malvisi, cabinet member for environment at Babergh District Council, said:

“We’re very happy to be able to start collecting garden waste again, as we know just how much residents have missed this service, especially with many spending more time in their gardens.

“I must stress though that pausing these collections was essential to continue general rubbish, clinical waste, and recycling collections and reduce pressure on waste services.

“While we now work even harder to collect your waste, we continue to ask that you reduce waste, compost where possible and only put your bin out for collection to help our crews at this difficult time.”

Cllr Jessica Fleming, cabinet member for environment at Mid Suffolk District Council, said:

“Re-starting our garden waste collections marks a milestone in our response to COVID-19 and it’s thanks to our crews that we’re now in a position to do so.

“If you do have additional bags that have built up, we ask that you empty these into your bin over several collections in the next few weeks to prevent unnecessary pressure on our crews.

“We’d also encourage our residents to tell their neighbours and friends from a safe distance or with a note through the door about changes to our services, and to try to spread the word through virtual means and community networks.”

Garden waste collections will re-start following the normal schedule from Monday 11 May for those in ‘area 2’ and Monday 18 May for those in ‘area 1’.

Residents unsure of their usual collection day or area should check the calendars or collection day checker tool on the councils website with the message being “if in doubt, put your bin out by 6:30am”.

Please remember not to overfill the bins so they can be moved by the crews – the lid must be able to shut.