Good afternoon all,
Please see some recent updates below regarding the Council’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Regards,
David
Facebook Live
I was on Facebook Live on Friday 27 March lunch-time to set out how NSDC is responding to ensure help and continued support for residents and businesses during the pandemic. I spoke about the District’s Humanitarian Assistance Response Team (Hart), support packages for businesses, and the measures being taken to ensure that essential Council services will continue for residents including critical waste (green/black bin) collections.
https://www.facebook.com/NSDCouncil/
NSDC Services – Recycling and Garden Waste Collections
It is with deep regret that, with effect from Monday 30th March, collections of recycling (silver bin) and garden (brown bin) waste will temporarily cease across Newark and Sherwood. This is to ensure that collections of the critical waste (green/black bin) and medical waste can be prioritised at this challenging time. We apologise sincerely for the inconvenience this will inevitably cause.
The reduction of any service for residents is unfortunate but unavoidable in this instance due to the necessary social distancing measures for waste crews. Our cabins are just over two metres wide and normally seat three operatives when driving between rounds. In order for our staff to keep a safe distance from each other and help to reduce the spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19), it has been necessary to reorganise our operating model. There has also been a notable increase in recent weeks of soiled tissues being placed in recycling bins which contaminates the whole bin. In the current climate, this is putting our staff and other residents at increased potential health risk.
By temporarily suspending collections of recycling and garden waste, NSDC can adhere to social distancing measures for its staff, help to keep them and residents safe, and still maintain the critical waste (green/black bin) collections. Waste crews are already going above and beyond in their duties and we all want to keep them as safe as possible.
Temporarily, people should place their recycling waste in with their critical waste (green/black bin). Any residents who have subscribed to the garden waste collection service by 1st April 2020, will receive a reduced rate if they choose to continue with this service in 2021-22.
We remain firmly committed to recycling efforts and to our Cleaner, Safer and Greener policy but, in theses unprecedented times, this action has been unavoidable. We will of course keep our operating model under review in line with social distancing measures and continue to explore alternative solutions where feasible. We will provide updates regularly and will take every measure we can to clear any backlogs of waste when the current advice is relaxed.
Residents should continue to put their critical waste (green/black bin) out for collection on their normal days by 6.00am.
I can see a lot of people have asked some questions, so let me try to cover these off to help you with enquiries:
- “Well if you’re not doing the grey bin can you not do the green bin every week?” Therein is the misunderstanding. We have to double the vehicles each week for distancing measures so unless we purchased another fleet, we cannot reinstate any weekly refuse collections – understandably, people will not know/realise that when we collect their bin, we are ordinarily somewhere else in the District collecting other bins. Clearly, we cannot purchase a second fleet and recruit another team.
- “I know other Councils have trained leisure centre staff to work on the bin rounds – why can’t you” In the first instance, this is highly unlikely. We already had flexibility between our grounds and refuse teams so trained staff are already deployed to the service. We could have as many staff as you like but we still need vehicles for them to ‘fill’ and we cannot acquire more of those. The measures are to ensure distancing measures for our team – they deserve the same protection as any other essential key workers.
- “Can’t they just follow the van in their own cars so they’re not together?” – we did look into this, it just wouldn’t work. You have two waste operatives (one each side of the road for the bins) and a driver. You can imagine the complexities, especially in rural areas, of jumping in and out of vehicles having completed each road, running back etc – it was modelled and predicted adding around 5 hours to each route which then means we are outside contracted and permissible hours for operatives.
- “Is it right to send recyclable waste to landfill” – well, no, it’s not. It might not be widely known but virtually no waste in our County goes to landfill, it is nearly all incinerated and, that includes rejected recycling collections – 20% of current content in green bins could have been recycled and on average, 18% of recyclable waste collections are contaminated and rejected. Thereafter, of course we would rather it was recycled but these are extraordinary times. We also wait to see whether the separation facilities continue if tissues etc are being put into recyclable waste, they too have a duty of care to staff.
- “This is an infestation risk” – recyclable waste is inert and should have been washed out so presents no health risk. Residents will need to prioritise filling their bins with food, nappies etc before using any remaining capacity for recyclable waste – a lot of which can also be squashed and compacted more than at present. Thereafter, as we do not know how long these measures will last but hope it is now 11 weeks, residents can try to store recycling waste. IF distancing measures are relaxed, we can look to do a ‘catch up’ round once silver bins are reinstated.
- “So if we bag it and leave it next to the bin if it is already full, will you collect it?”. No. The answer is no. It has to be otherwise we may as well suggest putting all the bins out on the same day and we cannot in anyway guarantee capacity in the vehicles. For Councillors only: clearly if we have two vehicles, there will be some more capacity and our waste operatives will apply common sense but we cannot encourage everyone to put additional waste out – nor do we want our colleagues having to pick up bags which increase health risks, can tear, increase runs to and from the lorry, and risking having to clear up where bags tear.
- “Will there be a reduction in Council Tax”. No
We have had a few well meaning residents worried about presenting waste arising from suspicion of having had the virus. As a general rule of thumb, it is assumed that the risk of transmission from objects is near nil after 72 hours. However, please ask such residents to double bag any such waste and, if they can, place is lower in the bin. If they wish, they can make a solution of bleach and water (roughly 1:10) and spray the waste then leave it 24 hours before double bagging.
Support for Business
NSDC is keen to support its business community and their employees in these unprecedented and challenging times. So far, we have already made relief payments to 314 local businesses with a total value of £5,735,000.
We are committed to being as flexible as possible in administering relief for qualifying businesses and people affected. The support packages available are:
- Astatutory sick pay relief package for SMEs
- Business Grants of between £10,000 and £25,000 have now started being paid to eligible businesses as follows:
- £10,000 grant per business in receipt of Small Business Rates Relief and Rural Rates Relief; or
- £10,000 grant per business in the Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure Sector with rateable value of £15k or less at 11 March 2020
Please note, if businesses fall within both categories 1 and 2 above, the maximum grant eligible will be £10,000
- £25,000 grant per business in the Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure Sector with a rateable value of more than £15k but less than £51k at 11 March 2020
Businesses who think they may qualify for one of the above grants should submit their details, including their bank account details, via our secure online form as soon as possible.
INFORMATION FOR EMPLOYERS MAKING REDUNDANCIES OR WITH RECRUITMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Information is available for all businesses and employers across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire who are having to make changes to their workforce as a result of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
REDUNDANCY INFORMATION:
If you have already made employees redundant or are about to make small numbers redundant (up to five), please refer those individuals for direct support to:
Email: NationalCareersServiceNCC@futuresforyou.com Phone: 0800 917 94 19
If you are planning to make larger-scale redundancies (five or more) additional support is also available for you as an employer and your employees. In these circumstances, please use the same contact details as above but ensure your contact includes:
- Notification of redundancies and scale
- Number and job roles affected
- Last day of work for affected individuals (if known)
For general guidance and links to further information on redundancy for both employers and employees, please visit: www.gov.uk/guidance/redundancy-help-finding-work-andclaiming-benefits
RECRUITMENT INFORMATION:
If you are seeking to fill urgent vacancies, short or long term, to meet changes to your business as a result of Covid-19, we can help connect you with immediately available individuals. Please register your vacancies with:
John Blankley Senior Employment Support Adviser Email: John.Blankley@futuresforyou.com Phone: 0115 876 4947 / 07570 671592
Please have the following information available when registering your vacancies:
- Nature of work • Number of vacancies (can be approximate) • Necessary or desirable skills requirement • Location of vacancies • Any current recruitment routes being used
Volunteering opportunities can also be registered via the above method.
Visit the new Newark and Sherwood District Council website www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk
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