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Green bin collections have been suspended until further notice as Â鶹ÊÓƵ continues to deal with the impact of coronavirus on services.

Due to the Government's guidance in relation to Coronavirus, the Council is suspending a number of Council services to allow the authority to refocus its resources on delivering the most critical of frontline duties.

Now a decision has been taken to suspend the Garden Waste Collection service which was due to begin this week (week commencing 30 March).

Councillor Joan Atkinson, Lead Member for Area Management and Community Safety, said: "Our refuse collection service continues to be a priority. However, the impact of reduced resources means that we have had to review our approach to the non-statutory green waste collection programme.

"We appreciate that this comes at a time when residents are spending more of their time at home and in their gardens to remain fit and active. But it has been necessary for us to suspend the garden collection service with immediate effect to help us maintain the essential frontline services that our residents need and rely on.

"We acknowledge that people have paid for collections and may now only receive part of the service this season. Please rest assured that we will be looking at this issue once services return to normal. We continue to monitor the situation closely with a view to starting the service as soon as we are able to do so.

"We appreciate your patience and understanding during these extremely challenging and unprecedented times."

As a result of the suspension of the Green Waste collections, the Council is not taking any new registrations for the service until further notice.

As households will also be generating more household and recyclable waste at this time, residents are reminded of the importance of keeping materials separate. Residents are urged to leave their green bin full and to store any additional garden waste in their garden, or home compost their materials, until the service resumes.

Those who are registered with the Green Waste Collection Service and have provided their email address, will be notified by email when the service is recommenced.

Grey household waste collections continue. However, the Recycling Village at Middlefields Industrial Estate in South Shields remains closed at this time.

For further information about waste, recycling and home composting visit the Council's website at www.southtyneside.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling or call the Customer Contact Centre on (0191) 427 7000.

Regular updates and information about service disruption can also be found at www.southtyneside.gov.uk/coronavirus