Garden Waste Collections during COVID-19

The increased safety measures being put into place to ensure the health and wellbeing of the UK’s population are likely to involve changes or disruptions to the normal operation of household waste sites (HWRC’s) and household waste collection services across to country. The biggest impact to residents, as councils prioritise collections, is likely to be a reduction or stop to garden waste collections, which are deemed to be non-essential.

If you have concerns around managing a build-up of either garden waste, or general waste our guide to best practice and service availability may help answer your questions.

How to best manage your waste during Coronavirus:

1. Anyone who feels ill at home (whether diagnosed with COVID-19 or not) should place all their waste in the general rubbish bin, and should double-bag it, making sure the bags are securely tied. They should then wait at least 72 hours before placing it out for collection. This material should not be put in your recycling.
2. If you are able to take waste to your local tip, ensure that you maintain a safe distance from others while you are on site. Where sites have closed but you have a need to get waste removed, you can find out about service availability for our Van It and Bag it services by clicking on the link.
3. If you have a build-up of general waste or garden waste and are unable to leave your property, our no-contact collection services may be suitable for you. Input your postcode to understand availability in your local area. Both our Van It and Bag It services can remove bagged general and garden waste without the need for any contact. Prices start from £10 for our Bag It service. Once booked, simply leave your waste on your driveway, or somewhere easily accessible from the outside of your property, and we will take it away. Because you know where we are collecting from and when we will be arriving you can stay safely indoors at the agreed collection time. These are one-off services so can be booked online as and when a need arises.
4. If you are experiencing a reduction in your household waste collection service or the closure of your local tip and want to arrange a community collection, we can now offer this as part of our Van It service or Bag It service. Please ensure that all waste is double bagged and doesn’t contain any hazardous or harmful materials. When making a booking, first select your service. In the access information you can then input up to five addresses (all within 1 mile radius of the main booking address). We will then collect from all of the addresses on the list on the same day. For a ¼ van service this would equate to 30 black bags of waste per address, for 1/2 van 60 and for a full van 120. If you want some more guidance on how this could work for you, call 03300 535 535 and speak to a member of the team who can talk you through the process and answer any questions.

Skoup operate as part of Biffa Waste Management who have taken significant measures to ensure the safe removal of waste from businesses and households. Waste management is considered a critical service at this time and as such we are working to maintain continuity, whilst primarily ensuring the health and safety of our staff and customers. If you have any questions or would like to speak to the team about booking a Skoup service please call us directly on 03300 535 535.