Bin collections in Weymouth and Portland have resumed following a major fire on Sunday in which 16 collection vehicles were destroyed at the Crookhill depot in Chickerell.

This means that some collections in Weymouth and Portland have resumed today (Tuesday) and all collections will be reinstated on Wednesday.

Rubbish, food and garden waste collections are taking place today, but there will be no recycling collections as replacement vehicles have to be delivered.

All collections will take place as normal from Wednesday 18 November onwards

There won’t be any catch-up collections for kerbside rubbish and recycling. Any household that did not receive a collection on Monday 16 or Tuesday 17 November should keep hold of their waste and put it out on the next appropriate collection day when any waste missed as a result of the service suspension will be collected,

Residents are reminded that food waste collections are weekly and that both Weymouth and Portland Household Recycling Centres are open daily from 10am to 4pm if anybody cannot wait until their next bin collection. Both these sites are observing COVID-19 secure restrictions, so there may be long queues.

Dorset Council says that, while they have enough resources to resume waste collections in Weymouth and Portland, resources will be stretched in the short-term and services may be more prone to disruption than usual in the coming weeks. Some street cleansing services may also be disrupted as specialist large sweeper vehicles are yet to be replaced.

While Fire and Rescue officers are keeping a close eye on the Crookhill site, Environment Agency officers have been in attendance and were satisfied that the impact to the surrounding environment was minimal. 20,000L of waste liquid was also pumped from tanks on site and removed; the contents primarily consisting of the water and foam used to extinguish the fire.

Cllr Jill Haynes, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for Customer Services and Communities, said, “This is a phenomenal achievement. To lose most of our vehicle fleet at Crookhill but resume the majority of our bin collection services less than two days later is testament to the hard work of all the officers and agencies involved in tackling this incident.

“For those who did not receive a collection on Monday or Tuesday, I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause but thank you for your patience and understanding. Please bear with us as we get things back to normal.”