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Garden waste collections across Caerphilly County Borough have been suspended for a week.

Caerphilly County Borough Council said the temporary suspension will allow short-staffed crews to prioritise food waste collections, which are currently running several days behind schedule.

The suspension, which started on Monday July 13, will be reviewed on Friday July 17 to determine if collections can resume the following week.

The council blamed the disruption on a backlog caused by the current heatwave, alongside vehicle breakdowns and unusually high volumes of waste.

During the heatwave, bin crews worked restricted hours to avoid the hottest parts of the day, preventing them from running catch-up services. Teams have been working weekends to clear the build-up.

Residents whose garden waste collections scheduled for Thursday July 9 and Friday July 10 were missed, should leave their bins out as catch-up teams are still working to empty them.

However, any garden waste collections scheduled between Monday July 13 and Friday July 17 are cancelled.

In a press release, the council said: “This decision has not been taken lightly as our teams have endeavoured to provide a full-service provision over this period. We apologise for any inconvenience or frustration caused.”

‘Postcode lottery’

Blackwood independent councillor slated the council over suspension and said: “The collection of waste is a basic service. It’s not complicated.”

He continued: “People pay their council tax and expect a reliable service. Labour-led Caerphilly has turned it into a postcode lottery, you place out three bins for collection and then wait and see what will happen.

“You may be lucky and all three are emptied, or it may be two out three – who knows?

“The binmen work extremely hard in all weathers. The recent hot weather does present challenges; however, it’s down to management to ensure services are working for all residents across the county borough.

“Blackwood is one area where regular delays in collection are common, with food bins left out for up to a week.”

Cllr Dix added: “If Labour are incapable of collecting three bins on a designated day, how will they manage when we move to six bins per house? It will be chaos.”