Waste Collection Strike Important Update

Unite union members working on Somerset waste collections still plan to take industrial action starting from Wednesday 12 July.

Further talks between the parties are scheduled for tomorrow morning (11 July). We hope that Unite would put a revised offer to a ballot and suspend strike action pending its outcome.

In the event of strike action the key messages for residents in the first instance are:

When to put out your recycling, refuse and garden waste:

 Put out on your usual collection days, but expect many missed collections.
 Put it is out before 7am or the night before (even if it’s usually collected later).

What to do if your collection is missed:

 Recycling and garden waste: bring boxes, bags and bin back inside until your next collection day. 

Please do not try and report a missed collection.

 Refuse and clinical waste: leave it out.

From 5pm today (Monday 10 July) the online garden waste form was taken down from the website and we will pause taking new subscriptions, renewals or requests for replacement garden waste bins. This will be reinstated as soon as possible if the strike is avoided.

Bulky collections will be suspended from the end of tomorrow if the strike goes ahead. People will still be able to book slots outside the scheduled strike period.

We stopped taking requests for replacement or new containers on Wednesday (7 July).

Anyone with a bulky waste or garden waste sack collection booked for the strike period will be contacted tomorrow if the industrial action goes ahead.