Day and night removal of city's waste
Our Cityclean crews are working day and night to clean up the city after the industrial action was lifted on Wednesday.
All our crews are out daily to remove the piles of waste that accumulated during the strike. But we’ll also have staff out from midnight this evening (Friday 22) to clear up as much as they can from hard to reach areas they can’t get to during the day.
We also have additional crews removing the waste that’s piled up around communal bins, while the usual day to day service is up and running again.
It’s all part of the non-stop drive to get the city back to normal now the industrial action of the last two weeks has been lifted.
However, the scale of the operation is a massive one. The very large piles of waste that have built up around our communal bins and recycling ‘bring sites’ take about one hour to clear.
With around 680 communal refuse bins, 1,500 communal recycling bins and 150 glass communal bins across the city, plus more than 60 recycling points offering recycling and glass collections, the clear up will take time.
We believe there is a two weeks backlog which means it will take a minimum of two weeks to remove.
Despite that, this week (Mon-Thu) the crews have already picked up almost 500 tonnes more than they would normally collect.
An average daily collection totals 209 tonnes.
However, on Monday they collected 265 tonnes; Tuesday 333 tonnes; Wednesday 314 tonnes and Thursday 391 tonnes. That is 1,303 tonnes compared to 836 tonnes.
Although the crews were working this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, it was only after the industrial action was lifted on Wednesday that operations were able to properly begin.
We fully realise how frustrating it is to see our beautiful city with so much rubbish on the streets, and we want to thank all of our residents and businesses for their patience and understanding during these times.
We promise to have the city, and the Cityclean service, back to normal as soon as possible.
You can find more information on our website.