Saturday 7 February 2009

Snowstorms hit waste and recycling collection


While Exmouth Road and the Budleigh area are seeing brilliant blue skies today with not a snowflake in sight it’s a different story further inland, with roads made hazardous by blizzards and icy conditions.

The severe weather forced East Devon District Council’s waste and recycling contractors to cancel all collections yesterday.

There were no landfill waste collections in Budleigh Salterton and Littleham. EDDC spokesman Nick Stephen advised: “Householders should put out their bins for collection on Monday of next week, when they will be collected – weather permitting!” Above: Snow has affected many of Devon’s roads inland.

Recycling boxes in Budleigh Salterton were not be emptied yesterday for similar reasons. Householders have been asked to keep their boxes until Friday of next week (13 Feb), when they will be emptied. This is not a normal recycling day for these areas, but contractors will collect on that day, weather permitting.

The next collection will be on the following Friday (20 Feb), when collections will return to the normal fortnightly cycle.

EDDC have said that their REACT team will be out and about in the district, concentrating on picking up any split litter bags that they find. “Dog waste bins may not be emptied according to the normal schedule. But Council teams will also be out and about emptying any dog waste bins that are full or overflowing.”

Councillor David Cox, EDDC’s Portfolio Holder StreetScene, said: “We apologise to residents for any inconvenience they may experience as a result of these changes.” He explained that the exceptional weather conditions meant that there was a combination of reasons why the Council’s waste contractors could not be working yesterday. “Some crews cannot get to the depot and lorries can’t get out of the depot,” he said. “If they did get on the road, they may not be able to get to many homes Even if they could collect the waste, many waste tips are closed. The roads to waste and recycling centres are treacherous and some are impassable.”

EDDC’s Nick Stephen added: “We hope to be able to return to normal service as soon as weather conditions allow.” Above: All clear on Exmouth Road

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