Ice continues to scupper bin collections

Hand gritting teams have been sent out with bin lorries in a bid to catch up with a back-log of scheduled collections which have were scuppered by the weather following Boxing Day’s snow flurries.

Collections scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, December 29 and 30, are set to continue today (New Year’s Eve).

However, if by 4pm any of these bins have not been collected then householders are advised to return their bins to their property until further collections are carried out on Monday (5).

Outstanding collections scheduled for today and New Year's Day will be cleared on Friday and Saturday of this week.

Cllr Mahroof Hussain, Rotherham Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for the Environment, apologised for the disruption but asked the public to continue to be patient.

He added: "The on-going low temperatures have created thick ice on side roads resulting in a major headache for the waste collection service.

“This is despite the best efforts of refuse crews who have been working in conjunction with the gritting teams to get round to properties on the scheduled collection days.

“The safety of the public and the collection crews is our prime concern at times like this.

“Drivers cannot risk driving heavy lorries — some as heavy as 32 tonnes — on icy roads.”