Garden and Food Waste Collection – Temporary Suspension

Communication from West Berkshire Council: 18th December 2021

Dear Resident,

West Berkshire Council has taken the difficult but necessary decision to temporarily suspend the green bin garden and food waste collection service for one collection from Tuesday 28 December 2021 until Saturday 8 January 2022 (inclusive). All services will resume as normal from Monday 10 January 2022.

This temporary suspension will free up more drivers and operatives to ensure your rubbish (black bin) and recycling (green boxes and bag) service continues as scheduled throughout the busy Christmas period and into the New Year.

We will collect up to 3 open topped bags of excess garden waste in addition to the green bin on your first collection following the resumption of the service. Please note that this is effectively a delayed collection and garden waste customers will not miss out on the usual amount of collections. We are not able to offer refunds, as stated in the terms and conditions for the chargeable garden waste service.    

Some options for what you can do with garden and food waste during the temporary suspension period if you cannot wait until when the service restarts:

Garden Waste and Christmas Trees:

• Garden waste including real Christmas trees can be disposed of at HWRCs free of charge. Please ensure you book an appointment via westberks.gov.uk/clickandtip before you visit.
• Residents can also home compost where possible.
• Real Christmas trees will be collected on your first scheduled garden/food waste collection in January once the service has resumed. Please keep them close to your property until the collection service restarts and avoid blocking pavements and footpaths with them.

Food waste:

• We are asking residents to try and reduce food waste generation over the holiday season and beyond.
• Residents can also home compost where possible.
• We will collect any food waste in your green bin when the service resumes.
• If you would rather dispose of your food waste sooner it can temporarily be taken to our Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) for disposal. We have liaised with our contractor for special containers to be placed in area 2 at the Newtown Road, Newbury and Padworth HWRCs from Monday 20 December 2021 until the suspension period is over. Please ensure you book an appointment via westberks.gov.uk/clickandtip before you visit.

For more information about this temporary service suspension, please read our Frequently Asked Questions document.

We apologise by any inconvenience caused by this suspension and thank you for your continued understanding.