Bolton bin collection rounds this Christmas attract complaints

There will be no bin collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, or New Years Day, and instead collections will run on alternative days.

But green bins, which are used for food and garden waste, will not be collected until January 8, which some residents say is a six week gap between their last collection and the scheduled one.

Collections of beige and burgundy bins that would normally fall on December 25 or December 26 will be collected on an earlier date and those usually collected on January 1 will instead be collected between January 3 and January 5.

Dates can be found on the poster below.

The council have  responded to complaints about the long wait with people claiming it would attract vermin.

Town Hall chiefs said the decision to suspend collections until that time was to reduce dependency on crews working on the Christmas weekend and prioritise the collection of the beige and burgundy bins.

Cllr Hilary Fairclough for Astley Bridge said in a Facebook post: “Just for information this is the response from the council re delayed collection of green bins over the Christmas period , this isn’t my opinion , I am just the messenger."

The response states: “The collection of the food waste containers and green bins is suspended during Christmas and New Year, with collections resuming week beginning 8 January 2024.

“The decision to suspend these collections has been made to reduce the dependence of operational crews working on Saturdays and Sundays over the festive season, whilst prioritising the collection of the grey, beige and burgundy containers which experience a higher demand.

“Regrettably this does mean that some households will experience a wait of up to 6 weeks between collections. “ But the council say they have posted the collection dates on the council website, on The Bolton News, on their own social media, and in ‘Our Bolton.’

Cllr Fairclough said: “The change to collection service has been advertised in the latest version of “Our Bolton” which is distributed to households across Bolton, as well as through social media campaigns and The Bolton News.”

People in Bolton have been posting on social media and to The Bolton News to complain about the long wait with one person saying little communication was given.

Collections of grey bins that would usually be scheduled on the festive dates will also happen a few days later, with the poster details the dates for all residents.