Recycling to resume following breakdowns

Orkney Islands Council has said there will more recycling vehicles available to carry out collections, as of this week, after a number of recent breakdowns.

According to the council, a series of unrelated problems  has meant that three of the four recycling trucks operated by OIC have been out of action recently.

This has had an impact on green bin collections in a number of areas on the Mainland, Burray and South Ronaldsay.

One of the recycling vehicles has been repaired and went back into service yesterday, Wednesday. Another is expected to be operational again next week. The third has suffered a more serious breakdown and will be out of action until the New Year.

“These unfortunate mechanical breakdowns have meant that we’ve been unable to empty all the recycling bins on some collection days – and that some areas have missed out altogether,” said John Wrigley, the council’s roads and environmental services manager.

“We can only apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank residents for their patience during what has been a difficult time for all involved.

“The situation is starting to look more positive and we intend, if at all possible, to catch up on as much of the backlog as we can over the days ahead. We will provide regular updates on when and where recycling collections will take place.”

If your recycling bins are due to be emptied on Thursday or Friday this week, residents are asked to put them out as usual.

If your recycling bins weren’t emptied on Tuesday and Wednesday this week there will be catch-up collections as follows:

• Thursday, December 5: Catch-up collection in Kirkwall west.
• Friday, December 6: Catch-up collection in Burray.
• Saturday December 7: Catch-up collection in South Ronaldsay, St Ola and Holm.

From Monday, December 9, OIC intends to empty recycling bins in line with the usual schedule. The council has asked that residents put their recycling out on the days and dates when it would normally be collected.

Residents are asked, if possible, to only put full bins out for collection as this speeds up the process and will help with clearing the backlog.

Regular updates will be provided on the OIC Updates Facebook page and in the news section on the OIC website www.orkney.gov.uk

Recycling can also be dropped off at one of OIC’s five Household Waste Recycling Centres: https://www.orkney.gov.uk/Service-Directory/R/Recycling-Centres-Civic-Amenity.htm