Westray waste and recycling collections move to Mondays

Orkney Islands Council is advising people in Westray that the collection day for waste and recycling will change to Mondays (from the current Tuesday collections) from the week starting 11 October.

The island’s recycling and refuse collection weeks will also be swapped around.

The changes have been made to help create more resilience in the service.

Strategic Policy and Projects Manager for the Council, Lorna Richardson, explained the case for the change: “This change moves Westray’s collection day to one where we are not servicing other islands and so have greater resilience in the fleet should there be any issues with breakdowns or other mechanical problems.

"It also removes some ferry timetabling issues faced each year due to differences in sailings between summer and winter timetables.

“We have planned the changeover so that residual waste is collected two weeks in a row at the start of the changeover, minimising disruption to this service and ensuring that this type of waste doesn’t have to sit around for any longer than is necessary.

“Unavoidably, there will be a five week gap for recyclates during the changeover so we will be asking residents to please be patient and to store their recycling if at all possible until the next collection date.”

Chair of the Council’s Development and Infrastructure Committee, Graham Sinclair, said: “These planned changes are aimed at evening out some peaks and troughs in resources and ultimately will help reduce disruptions for residents in Westray over the longer term. I thank everyone in the community in advance for their patience as we make the change.”

Waste and recycling collections are planned to run as follows over the coming weeks:

• Tuesday 21 September - Refuse
• Tuesday 28 September - Paper and metals
• Tuesday 5 October - Refuse
• Monday 11 October - Refuse
• Monday 18 October - Glass and plastic
• Monday 25 October - Refuse
• Monday 1 November - Paper and metals
• Monday 8 November - Refuse
• Monday 15 November - Glass and plastic
• Monday 22 November - Refuse
• Monday 29 November -  Paper and metals

All Westray residents and businesses are being issued with letters to explain the change and set out the new collection dates.

Any queries can be emailed to developmentandinfrastructure@orkney.gov.uk