Concerns have been raised after it emerged that a fifth of Belfast households will wait almost a month before emptying their Christmas bins.
Affected residents were supposed to be gathered on December 27, but the gathering has now been postponed to January 10.
The last time the affected households collected their garbage cans was on December 13. This means it will be almost a month before the council collects residents’ waste – at a time of year when rubbish is known to pile up.
Tens of thousands of Belfast residents are expected to be affected.
Angry residents have taken to social media to express concern about the problem, which Belfast City Council (BCC) says is due to a shortage of drivers for the rubbish trucks.
“Not good enough,” said one user.
“Why do we pay fees?” asked another.
People Before Profit councilor Matt Collins took issue with the situation. “It is unacceptable that residents should be forced to go four weeks without garbage collection,” he said.
“This is the time of year when people need their bins emptied the most. They can’t be expected to let their rubbish pile up over the holiday period.
“I’m told this problem could affect up to 20% of households in Belfast, meaning thousands of bins will go uncollected. We have urged the council to explore ways of dealing with this immediate problem.
“This is a recurring problem caused by the lack of municipal staff and infrastructure. Council workers are overworked, underpaid and absolutely entitled to time off during the festive season.
“In the long term, the council needs to provide better wages to recruit and retain staff to deliver these vital services.”
A spokesman for Belfast City Council said: “Due to a shortage of drivers there will be an impact on rubbish collections over the Christmas and New Year period.
“Residents due to be collected on Tuesday 27th December will now be collected on Tuesday 10th January.
“We understand this is an inconvenience to residents and regret that our service delivery will be affected. We apologize to all affected residents.
“Our recycling centers will be open over the festive period for residents to take their excess waste to the nearest recycling centre; however, we appreciate that this is not possible for everyone. Work continues to increase the pool of drivers to support the service.”
The news comes after city council workers threatened to strike over pay and conditions earlier this year.
This is not the first time the municipality has had problems with containers at Christmas.
In 2018, the council again blamed staffing problems after some residents were told they would have to wait four weeks before their recycling bins were emptied.
This resulted in one resident requesting a refund from his rates.
“By my calculations, based on my rate bill and the fact that rubbish collection is the only council service I actually use, I think I’m owed a refund of around £40,” he said.
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