Bin collections cancelled for weeks as rubbish crews told to self-isolate by app

Bin collections have been postponed for two weeks after a number of crew members were told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace.

Coventry City Council has denied a Covid outbreak in the service and said the staff shortages are due to workers getting pinged by the app.

The cancellations will see residents wait two weeks for their brown bins to be removed while general waste and recycling rounds continue as usual.

The council say similar decisions are being taken by local authorities across the country faced with a similar situation, Coventry Live reports.

The council says it's just one of many local authorities making similar decisions (Getty Images)

Disgruntled residents have been told that there is plenty of availability at the London Road tip should they urgently need to dispose of excess garden waste.

Andrew Walster, director for streetscene and regulatory services at Coventry City Council, said: “Over the last 24 hours a significant number of our waste collection crews have received notification from the NHS test and trace service to self-isolate.

“The increased level of staff unavailable today means that it has not been possible to deploy a full collection service today.

Bin collections for garden waste have been put off for two weeks (Mirrorpix)

“Given the levels of rising Covid-19 infections in the country and city, the levels of employees being told to self-isolate could even increase over the next two weeks.

“In order to protect the delivery of residual waste and recycling collections, we have decided to suspend garden waste collections as of tomorrow morning for the remainder of this week and next week.

“These are exceptional circumstances and I’d like to thank residents for their patience.”