Waste collection teams around Buckinghamshire have been rising to the challenge of maintaining regular kerbside collections with reduced staffing levels due to Coronavirus – and residents have been responding with appreciation and support.

Buckinghamshire Council Executive Portfolio Holders Bill Chapple OBE (Environment) and Gareth Williams (Health & Culture) said: "Our thanks go to our waste collection crews across the county who are maintaining a superb service despite the staffing pressures that the current situation has inevitably caused - and it's really great to hear that residents are responding so positively to their efforts.

"We're doing whatever we can to maintain as full a service as possible, and I'm sure people will understand that we've had to suspend some collections, including garden waste and bulky items. Although this is less than ideal, we'd just ask residents to put their food waste in with the general rubbish during this period until things settle down and we can get things back to normal."

Kerbside collections across Bucks are being made on the usual days whenever possible, though a few changes have had to be made to what's being collected to accommodate lower staffing levels:

• Residual rubbish and mixed recycling are being collected as usual across the whole county, and food waste recycling is still being collected in the South Bucks areas.

• Food recycling is not being collected separately for the time being in the Chiltern and Wycombe areas. During this time residents are asked to put food waste in with their residual rubbish.

• Bulky waste and garden waste are not being collected in the county for the time being. Please either compost garden waste or store it safely until the service resumes – please don't put it in the general rubbish, as this puts an extra demand on the main collection service at a difficult time.