Disruption to food waste and recycling collection services has increased since last week, according to the latest Covid-19 local authority impacts survey as local authorities report higher than normal volumes of waste.

The latest survey from the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) covers the week starting 4 May and is the sixth Covid-19 impacts survey.

In terms of collection services, there has been increasing disruption to food waste collections. Just over two thirds (68 per cent) of local authorities (LAs) report services to be operating as normal, a decrease from 77 per cent last week, and food waste collections operate in only half of councils surveyed.

Currently, the number of recycling collections operating normally has fallen to 74 per cent, a four per cent decrease from last week’s survey, and the number of collections that are experiencing minor disruption has risen to 25 per cent, a rise by six per cent.

Whilst garden and bulky waste collections appear to be recovering – over half are operating normally – 80 per cent are experiencing higher than normal volumes of waste.

Councils have reported higher than normal volumes of waste in other areas: 94 per cent have reported increases in residual waste placed out for collection, and 93 per cent have seen increases in recycling.

Whilst local authorities report higher volumes of waste, a Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) survey reported last week that citizens in fact are adopting ‘food smart’ behaviours and creating less food waste during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Regarding Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs), 94 per cent have plans to reopen some of their sites – half of responding councils intend to open sites this week and 40 per cent plan to reopen next week – however, currently 86 per cent remain closed.

In terms of staff absence, 12 per cent of LAs reported a ‘20-40 per cent reduction’ on staffing levels, which is a third of the share reporting this level of disruption at the end of March.

The effects of social distancing remains the largest reason for disposal service disruption, reported by 33 per cent of responding LAs; whilst for collection services the effects of social distancing are the second biggest reason, reported 43 per per cent of LAs, the greatest cause continues to be staff absence due to self isolation, identified by almost two thirds of LAs.

The sixth edition of the survey gathered responses from more than 250 local authorities and is supported by the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC), the Local Government Association (LGA) and the National Association of Waste Disposal Officers (NAWDO).

Speaking on behalf of these key networks Ian Fielding, Chair of ADEPT’s Waste Group said: “This week has seen HWRCs reopen across the country. We continue to monitor the situation closely as councils respond to Government guidance and work out how to operate sites in line with social distancing requirements. The safety of our operatives and the public remains paramount so inevitably, some HWRCs will need to remain closed if appropriate safety measures cannot be implemented.

“It is encouraging to see our household waste and recycling services return to normal across so many local authorities and demonstrates the hard work and commitment of our essential workers across the country.”

You can view ADEPT’s survey results in full on its website.