Garden waste collection suspended as driver shortage impacts service

Published: 27 July 2022

Garden waste collections in Exeter have been suspended until 5 September because of a shortage of drivers.

The City Council is having to prioritise other statutory waste services such as household waste collection and recycling, and apologises for the disruption.

The contract period for all garden waste customers has been extended by two months to cover the cancellations. All garden waste customers are being written to, informing them of the situation.

Cllr Ruth Williams, Lead Councillor with responsibility for Recycling, said: "We have done everything possible to try and keep the service going, but staff absences on top of the national driver shortage now made that impossible.

“To all of our garden waste customers, I can only apologise for the inconvenience that this is causing. We will continue with our programme to attract HGV drivers to Exeter and by 5 September we anticipate that we will be in a position to resume the garden waste collections."

Customers who can’t hold onto their garden waste until September are advised to take it to one of the recycling centres run by Devon County Council, including those at Pinbrook Road and Exton Road, if they are able to do so.