If you have a disability or medical condition that stops you putting your bins out, and there’s no-one else to do it for you, you can apply for an assisted bin collection. You can do this regardless of your age.
With an assisted collection our waste collection crew will collect your bin from where it is stored on your property, take it to the collection vehicle for emptying and then return your bin back to your storage point.
You need to apply for this service and we may need to visit your property to review where you store your bins to ensure we can access them for emptying.
Eligibility
To be eligible for assisted collections you must:
- Have a medical condition or disability that prevents you from being able to put your bin out, or not physically be able to do this. We'll need to see medical evidence to prove that you can't put your bins out for collection. Evidence can be in the form of disability or mobility benefit, or confirmation from your GP or hospital clinic.
- Have no other resident living at your property who's able to put the bins out for you. If there's more than one person living at your property you need to provide proof of infirmity or disability for each person.
- Have no other members of family living within the grounds of the same property. You need to include details of any of these family members in your application.
Risk assessments
After you've applied for an assisted collection we'll carry out a risk assessment before we can approve your request.
We'll visit your property to look into:
- visible risks
- any pets
- the distance to your collection point
- underfoot conditions
- suitable lighting at your property
We might ask for your bins to be moved so we can access them easier.
You need to make sure that all risks are reduced, and that the paths and surfaces where the bins will be moved are kept clear so we can safely collect and return them.
We can withdraw the service if a risk assessment shows it may cause a risk to our collection crew, or if the site conditions change and it's no longer safe for our crew to attend. For example a change in the underfoot conditions or a new pet.
We might ask you to use sacks for your waste if there isn't a suitable place for a bin. You'll then need to put all of your waste into these. We won't remove any loose waste or collect any sacks that are over-loaded, split or in a poor condition.
How to apply
You can apply for an assisted collection by calling us on 01226 773555. We'll send you a form to fill in and return, which needs to include all relevant medical/disability details for everyone living at your property.
After receiving your form we'll visit your property to complete our risk assessment. If you're eligible and our risk assessment is satisfactory, we'll tell you the date when your assisted bin collections will begin.
If you don't qualify for an assisted bin collection we'll tell you the reasons why.
Changing address or cancelling an assisted bin collection
Please tell us if you change address or want to cancel help to put your bins out.