Safety message on bin lorry

Members of the Walsall Council’s Clean and Green team decided to put a livery on one of its vehicles, which will be deployed across the borough along with the rest of the fleet.

Bosses said they wanted to send out a clear safety message but also have a bit of fun, inviting people to send in photos – if it is safe for them to take them – if they spot the chosen truck to be displayed on the Walsall Bins and Things Facebook page.

Councillor Oliver Butler, portfolio holder for clean and green, said the team has also worked successfully during the lockdown to ensure most household waste and recycling bins had been collected on time during the past few weeks.

The authority last week announced brown bin collections for garden waste would resume next month following a temporary suspension.

Councillor Butler said: “It is great that the team at Clean and Green came up with the idea of putting this livery on one of our bin lorries.

“So a big thank you to Phil Dutton and his team in fleet management and Tom Evans, the head of waste services.

“The message is really simple: ‘Stay Home, Save Lives and Protect the NHS’ because we do not want to risk a second outbreak and huge loss of life.

“This banner clearly conveys that official message and will be very visible to the public as the bin wagon makes it’s way around different collection routes, all across Walsall.

“I would also like to pay tribute to everyone in the team at Clean and Green, who have successfully maintained the core general waste and recycling collections through these difficult times.

“I have had all manner of opinionated armchair experts demanding that we reinstate garden waste collections.

“However both myself and Councillor Bird have made it clear that maintaining the core grey and green bin service was and is our number one priority.

“Because of these difficult but necessary decisions very few properties have not had their grey and Green bins emptied on schedule to during the lock-down.”

He added: “Now that the situation has stabilised we will be able to initially reintroduce a five weekly garden waste collection service from Monday May 11.

“We will continue to review the frequency of this collection service but we are not prepared to attempt to operate a service we cannot deliver at the moment.

“I do not want the situation where hundreds of brown bins are not emptied which results in our contact centre been flooded with complaints when they could be dealing with queries from vulnerable residents.”

“I would also like to thank the public for all the messages of support and drawings that they have left our bin crews. It is much appreciated by the crews.”