Shopping Council forced to get new bin lorries after rise in online buys

WASTE bosses have blamed missed bin collections on the rise of internet shopping.

- Alex SEABROOK

Bristol Waste's current fleet predates the post-pandemic increase in online sales, said Cllr Martin Fodor, pictured

Since the pandemic a lot of people are buying more items online - often packaged in over-sized cardboard boxes.

But the bin lorries used by Bristol Waste predate this boom, and all the extra cardboard is filling them up much more quickly than before. Bristol City Council is now planning to buy new bin lorries which are more flexible, to accommodate more cardboard and any future changes too.

Bin workers are collecting twice as much cardboard as before, meaning they have to return to a recycling depot to offload this before continuing their rounds. An update on the new bin lorries will be given to councillors on the environment policy committee on Thursday, December 18.