St Albans City and District Council’s waste and recycling teams are out in force following disruption to the service during last week’s icy weather. Waste collection services have been put under severe pressure in recent weeks due to the treacherous weather conditions.

Andrew Robertson, Head of Environmental and Regulatory Services at St Albans City and District Council said his team made a sterling effort after the first major snowfall before Christmas to catch up with the time table.

“Our efforts paid off and we were able to get on top of things across most of the District. However, this last snowfall was so bad that we, along with many other local authorities in the south east, were forced to suspend our waste collection service at the end of last week as the roads and pavements were too icy for our heavy waste collection vehicles to navigate safely.”

The Council resumed collections yesterday (11 January 2010).

“We are accessing roads on a case by case basis, depending on whether or not it is safe to do so. The main roads are largely clear, but many of the side roads are still presenting problems. We are dealing with collection vehicles weighing more than 20 tonnes gross. You can imagine the damage these could do if they skid on icy roads. We also have a responsibility to ensure our waste collection workforce is safe. Pulling heavy bins along ice-laden pavements can be extremely hazardous. I would ask residents to bear with us during this time and understand that we are working hard to make all the outstanding collections as soon as possible. We are pulling out all the stops and putting on extra crews where we can.

“The crews will be picking up any excess waste as they go. The Council is asking residents to leave their containers, bins and sacks at their usual collection point and we will get to them as soon as possible”.

Daily updates can be found on the Council’s website at www.stalbans.gov.uk.