Green bin collections remain on hold in South Tyneside as neighbours restart garden waste services

Borough chiefs took the decision to cancel the green bin collections at the end of March to free up staff for ‘critical of frontline duties’ during the coronavirus outbreak.

And while neighbouring Sunderland City Council and nearby Durham County Council have confirmed they plan to restart services, South Tyneside Council is still weighing up plans.

A spokesman for the Council said: “We continue to consider our services in the context of national government and Public Health England guidance.

“The garden waste service remains temporarily suspended to allow us to divert our available resources to the most critical frontline and core services, including domestic waste.

“However we are actively looking at how we can re-introduce the service sustainably given the challenges faced.

“We recognise this may be inconvenient for some of our residents and we very much appreciate people’s patience with regard to this matter.”

Households in South Tyneside can pay an annual subscription of £32 per bin for garden waste collections.

This entitles them to at least 16 pick-ups, usually between April and November.

The borough council has so far refused to pay refunds to anyone who had expected to receive the service this year and says no decision on this will be made until it is known whether a ‘part-year service’ could be carried out.

This policy prompted one gardener, Mike Smith, of Hebburn, to start legal action against the local authority in an attempt to claw his cash back.

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