Waste collections delayed, but reinforcements have arrived

Published 17 November 2020

Moreton Bay Regional Council’s waste contractor Cleanaway is steadily catching up on bin collections after yesterday’s strike action by truck drivers.

Additional trucks and crew members arrived from as far away as Cairns today to help clear the remaining bins.

The Transport Workers Union last week notified that their drivers will strike on Mondays starting this week (16/11/2020) and a stop work meeting on Friday (20/11/2020).

Cleanaway’s skeleton crew managed to collect 80% of the regular 60,000 household’s waste bins on Monday with just 19 of its regular 50 trucks on the road.

The remaining 20% of waste collections leftover from Monday will be completed by no later than Thursday.

Today’s waste collection services were successfully completed as normal (without adding to the backlog), but this doesn’t guarantee all bins will be collected tomorrow as crew continue to make up for Monday’s service.

However recycling bins will take longer to service, with Cleanaway signalling it will open its Narangba transfer station over the weekend so pickups can continue on Saturday as a precaution.

Either way, all collections will be complete by the end of the week, although maybe not on the same day.

To ensure Cleanaway’s staff can process the increased workload there will be additional conditions temporarily enforced on collections:

• Overloaded bins will not be collected, the bin’s lid must be able to be closed.
• Overflow waste on the ground around bins will not be collected.
• If you bin is blocked by an on-street vehicle or other obstruction, it will not be collected.

These rules will be enforced from 4:00am on Tuesday 17 November through to 4:00am on Saturday 21 November.

Thank you for your understanding.