GARDEN waste collections across the BCP Council area have been suspended for another week due to a national shortage of workers.

Due to an increase in the number of staff required to self-isolate and the lack of agency workers available, the council will continue with the suspension of garden waste collections for another week.

The decision affects all garden waste collections in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and will continue up to and including Friday, August 6. 

Kate Langdown, director for environment at BCP Council, said: 

“Unfortunately the extent to which staff have had to self-isolate has reached such proportions that we, along with many other councils in the country, are now at the point we have had no choice but to take action and suspend non-essential garden waste collection services. 

"There is a national shortage of LGV drivers and councils are competing with the private sector including supermarkets to find extra staff at this time.

“Therefore, to maintain normal waste collections we have had to remove existing staff from garden waste rounds to ensure that all other bins continue to be collected. It is not a decision taken lightly and we apologise for the inconvenience.”

All green waste collections in the conurbation have been affected since Monday, July 26.

A spokesperson for the council said: "We are hopeful that we can restart the service on Monday 9 August, but we are reviewing this on a weekly basis and will communicate to everyone nearer the time.

"Suspending the service for two weeks has meant that everyone will miss one collection. This will be added to the start of the 2022 service for all 2021 customers. The date of the catch up collection will be communicated in due course." 

In the meantime, garden waste can still be taken to BCP Council’s Recycling Centres across the three towns for disposal.