Household bin collections in Wirral will return next week after a week of industrial action.
Around 200 workers employed by Biffa on the outsourced Wirral Council refuse contract walked out on strike this week in a fight for better pay. This meant no collections of household bins or public litter bins or street cleaning over the past week.
That industrial action has now finished and the bin collections will begin again next week. It is not known whether the Unite union intends to ballot again for further action in the future.
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Street cleaning in Wirral will restart on Sunday December 11 focusing on those areas of highest priority. During the industrial action, environmental officers working for the council have been monitoring litter bins, so Biffa can be directed to those areas most in need when the service resumes.
Household waste collections will restart on Monday December 12, but residents should note a significant schedule change for this week as the council seeks to ensure that collecting the most potentially hazardous waste is given priority.
The normal collection cycle of bin collections will then resume from Monday December 19. For some households, this will mean their green bin is collected on consecutive weeks.
Biffa have confirmed that their crews will be unable to collect any additional waste or recycling left out in bags that does not fit in their wheelie bin. Residents are asked to keep hold of this until their bin has been emptied to be collected on the next scheduled collection day - or take it to one of the three Household Waste Recycling Centres in Wirral.
Garden waste bin collections (brown bin) are about to be paused for winter. This subscription service has an annual shutdown from December 12 to January 9 2023. However, residents who were due a garden waste collection during the week of industrial action will not miss out and this collection will be made the week of Tuesday 3 to Friday January 6 2023. These residents should put their bins out for collection by 7am on their usual collection day that week.
Wirral Council and Biffa have also confirmed arrangements for bin collections over the Christmas period. This will only affect residents whose normal scheduled collection day would have been Boxing Day – Monday December 26 2022.
Their waste will instead be collected earlier – on Christmas Eve. Affected households are asked to ensure whichever bin that was due to be collected on Monday 26 should be put out for collection by 7am on Christmas Eve.
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