Christmas Rubbish

Thanet District Council Press Release

Details of this year’s Christmas and New Year changes to waste and recycling collections have been announced by Thanet District Council.

There will be no changes for anyone who has collections on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, with collections for both wheeled bins and black sacks continuing as normal on those days throughout the Christmas and New Year period. The changes will apply to those who usually have their collections on Thursday or Friday, with full details below:

If your wheeled bin or black bags are due to be collected on
It will be collected on
Monday 22 December
NO CHANGE – Monday 22 December
Tuesday 23 December
NO CHANGE – Tuesday 23 December
Wednesday 24 December
NO CHANGE – Wednesday 24 December
Thursday 25 December (Christmas Day)
Saturday 3 January 2009
Friday 26 December (Boxing Day)
Friday 2 January 2009
Monday 29 December
NO CHANGE – Monday 29 December
Tuesday 30 December
NO CHANGE – Tuesday 30 December
Wednesday 31 December
NO CHANGE – Wednesday 31 December
Thursday 1 January (New Year’s Day)
Saturday 3 January 2009
Friday 2 January
Collection of 26 December and 2 January waste
Saturday 3 January
Collection of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day waste

If you are on the wheeled bin scheme, then you can put both the black lidded waste bin and the blue lidded recycling bin out for collection on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 January, but the contents of both bins will be sent to landfill sites. Therefore, residents are being encouraged, wherever possible, to save the recycling in their blue bin until their next scheduled collection. Bottles, paper and cans can also be taken to the recycling banks across Thanet and the Kent County Council recycling sites at Manston Road, Margate and Ramsgate Road, Richborough. The recycling sites are open every day between 8am and 4.30pm (9am until 4pm on Sunday 28 December) over Christmas, except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

Cllr. Shirley Tomlinson, Cabinet Member for Commercial and Environmental Services, said: “Arranging waste and recycling collections over the Christmas and New Year period is always challenging, as we want to ensure that we provide the best possible service we can to our customers, while also recognising the needs of our hard working staff. Like everyone else in the country, Christmas is a family time for our refuse crews and they deserve time to themselves. This year, for the first time, they are having a whole weekend off over the Christmas period, which we know has been very welcome. I know we won't satisfy all of the people all of the time but our staff also deserve to spend time over the festive season with their family and friends and I’m sure our residents will understand that.”

To minimise disruption to waste collections on the wheeled bin scheme, anyone due to have their blue lidded recycling bin collected on either Thursday 18 or Friday 19 December should put their black lidded waste bin instead out for collection on those dates. Those properties affected have been advised by a separate letter.

Cllr. Tomlinson added: “We’ve also done our best to minimise disruption for our residents, and anyone with collections on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays is unaffected over the Christmas period. Experience over many years shows that this is the easiest way to manage collections and results in the least disruption for people. To those who will have changes to their collections, please ensure that you put your bins or black bags out for collection on the dates advised. We’ve worked to ensure that there is as little disruption as possible, particularly to waste collections on the wheeled bin scheme, so do double check the information that has been sent to homes to ensure that you are putting the right bin out on the right day. As far as recycling goes, don’t forget that you can take your paper, glass bottles, tins and cans to the recycling banks or the Kent County Council recycling sites.

There will be no garden waste collections from Thursday 25 December until Friday 9 January, with normal service resuming on Monday 12 January. Bulky waste collections will not be available between Monday 22 December and Friday 2 January and there will be no paper and card collections on Thursday 25 December (Christmas Day), Friday 26 December (Boxing Day) or Thursday 1 January (New Year’s Day).