Easter bank holiday rubbish, recycling and garden waste collections – coronavirus outbreak causes a rise in fly-tipping

Despite the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, Sevenoaks District Council is continuing to collect rubbish and recycling once a week and garden waste fortnightly. However, due to Easter bank holidays, there will be some changes to collection days across the District.

Revised collection days are:

• Good Friday, 10 April – this collection will take place the next day, Saturday 11 April

• Easter Monday, 13 April – all collections this week will be one day later than usual until Saturday 18 April

Residents are asked to put their sacks out by 7am on their collection day to help prevent attracting animals and the build-up of litter. Garden waste customers will need to put their bin or sacks out by 6.30am on their collection day.

Cabinet Member for ‘Cleaner and Greener’, Cllr Margot McArthur, said: “We are incredibly proud of our refuse team. They have worked exceptionally hard throughout the recent crisis making sure our residents continue to receive their weekly collections. They’ll continue to provide the service over the Easter break so that no resident misses a collection.”   

Collection days can be viewed online at www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/collectiondays

Residents warned against fly-tipping

Since the outbreak of coronavirus there has been an increase in fly-tipping across the Sevenoaks District, specifically at recycling and bottle banks. Residents are being warned that this behaviour will not be tolerated and if caught, perpetrators will be prosecuted.

Cllr McArthur, said: “It’s such a shame that a minority of people are choosing to dump their rubbish at this time. We are putting all our resources into making sure your rubbish and recycling is still collected weekly and removing this abandoned rubbish is very time consuming. We understand that the Kent County Council closure of the local tips may create a short-term storage issue for some residents but fly-tipping is not the answer.  It also represents a health hazard for residents and those who have to remove it.

“Fly-tipping is illegal and we will be investigating each case. We can often track the waste back to the owner and this can lead to a conviction and a criminal record”