Somerset Council is asking for patience in parts of Somerset following delays to some waste and recycling collections.

A combination of factors has left crews unable to complete some of their scheduled collections including, high volumes of recycling and staff sickness.

As a result, some residents in and around Somerton, Cheddar, Martock, Bridgwater, Taunton, Glastonbury, Street and Yeovil will need to wait two weeks for recycling collections. This recycling will be returned for on the next scheduled recycling collection day of Thursday 22 June or Friday 23 June.

Suez will be deploying additional crews today, Friday 16 June to help with collections, however some residents are warned that it may not be possible to complete all rounds. Somerset Council advise all residents to leave their bags, boxes and bins out until 5pm on Saturday 17 June. If recycling is not collected, they should bring their boxes and bags back in until their next scheduled collection date.

Somerset Council sincerely apologises for the delays and disruption and is working closely with its collection contractor, Suez, to get things back on track.

Every week crews makes more than 350,000 collections across then county. While the vast majority usually run smoothly, the Council understands the frustration when collections are delayed.

Anyone affected by delayed collections is asked to make the most of the space in boxes and bags by crushing, squashing and flattening items if possible.

Storing food waste for longer periods can be difficult, especially in hot weather, but the following advice may help:

• Keep the food waste caddy and bin somewhere shady and cool.
• If it has to go, you can double-bag it and take it to a recycling site for the Energy from Waste skip.
• It can go into your kerbside rubbish bin – double-bagging reduces smells.
• If you have the space and time, home compost.

To aid collections, an additional crew will be out collecting cardboard separately in some areas this week.

Any residents who find that only their cardboard is collected are asked to leave the rest out for collection later in the day.

For more information and news about Somerset Council’s Waste Services visit somerset.gov.uk/waste and follow @somersetwaste on Facebook and Twitter.