North Somerset council plans to restart garden waste collections from the end of September but only every four weeks instead of fortnightly.
“This is a pragmatic approach that enables us to offer a garden waste service to all our existing customers while still dealing with the driver shortages. We are amending the garden waste collection calendars and these will be available on our website before collections begin again,” the council said.
New calendars will be available from Friday and can be downloaded from www.n-somerset.gov.uk/calendar.
The council notes that driver shortages are still a very serious issue. “We remain in a precarious situation with our staff resources so the situation could change again.”
There will be a discount on next year’s collections to compensate residents for the disruption. “You don’t need to contact us to qualify for this offer – it will be automatically available at renewal,” the council said.
North Somerset is also setting up trial satellite sites across the area so existing customers have the option to take their garden waste to staffed drop-off points if they don’t live within easy reach of one of the three recycling centres. These will be announced to customers living in those areas as soon as they’re up and running.